


It Might as Well be Magic

by Drarry4Lyfe2005



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Boys In Love, Draco Malfoy is a Little Shit, Hermione’s smarter than everyone, Jealous Hermione, M/M, Overprotective Hades, Overprotective Nico, Overprotective Will, Paranoid Harry, Sassy Nico, Secret Relationship, Umbridge is a bitch, Will and Nico are almost everyone’s otp at some point, solangelo, they’re so in love i just can’t even
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2020-07-24 18:50:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20019322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drarry4Lyfe2005/pseuds/Drarry4Lyfe2005
Summary: Hecate sends Will and Nico on a quest in the past to protect a young wizard named Harry Potter from Voldemort. They travel back 23 years to 1996 and attend Hogwarts to protect Harry and his friends, until things get a lot more out of hand than expected...ORBasically every single Solangelo/Harry Potter crossover fic you've ever read (and I also suck at summaries)





	1. Solangelo is Forced into a Quest Against Their Will

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so I hope you guys enjoy!

“Uh, could you repeat that? You want me to do _what?!?_ _"_

Not even five minutes ago, Nico had been hanging out in the Hades cabin playing Mario Cart with his boyfriend, Will, when he was suddenly pulled into the shadows and transported to his Father’s throne room, where he found not only Hades, but Hecate as well.

“Manners, son,” Hades said in a clipped tone.

“No, it’s alright,” Hecate said warmly from her spot beside Hades’ throne. “I understand that all of this is a lot to process.” She gave Nico a soft smile and continued, “I _need_ you to attend Hogwarts, a magical school for my descendants, and protect a boy named Harry Potter from an evil wizard named Voldemort.”

Nico just stared at her with his mouth agape. “Wizards?!?” He cried. “You can’t possibly be serious!” Normally, Nico was calm and collected, but this was getting ridiculous. Just five minutes ago he was sitting comfortably on the couch with his boyfriend playing Mario Cart, and now he was being dragged into going on a quest for a _year_ , all the way in _Scotland_ , and in the _90s_?!?

“Deadly serious,” Hades said, and Nico felt the air around him slightly chill at his Father’s words. Now, to any regular demigod, it would seem as if Hades was pissed (which _was_ kind of true), but in reality, Nico could tell that he was just eager to get Hecate out of his palace.

 _Probably interrupted his daily four hour nap,_ Nico thought miserably.

“Fine,” Nico groaned. “I’ll do it, but only because I don’t want to have to sit through this uncomfortable conversation with the two of you any longer than I have to.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” Hades said dryly.

 _Like father like son,_ Hecate thought, watching the exchange in amusement.

“Great!” She said cheerfully. “Now, this quest will involve time travel, so keep that in mind during your quest. I have arranged for you to stay with a man named Albus Dumbledore, a legacy of mine, as well as the headmaster of the school you’ll be attending. You will also be staying with his associates at 12 Grimmauld place. When you get there, Harry will be arriving soon. I suggest trying to earn his trust early on, to make things easier for the both of you.”

“Both of us?” Nico questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, I will allow you to bring one other person for this quest,” She answered.

“Isn’t the lucky number three?”

Hecate just smiled an all-knowing smile at that question. “Don’t worry, there will be someone else joining you along the way.”

Nico wasn’t fully satisfied with Hecate’s cryptic response, but he stopped trying to understand the Gods a long time ago.

“So, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, Ghost King, do you accept this quest?” Hecate asked, looking him dead in the eyes.

“I do,” Nico said, with unwavering confidence in his tone. Even if he was being dragged into this whole mess, he was at least gonna do it right. “And I pick William Solace, son of Apollo, as my plus one.”

“Excellent.” Hecate said. “In two days, I will meet you on top of Half-Blood Hill with a portkey—” Nico raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment, “—that will grant you and William Solace the standard wizarding knowledge for the average Hogwarts student in your year, and will transport you to where you will be staying while you're away from Hogwarts, 23 years in the past. Now, before I go, do you have any questions?”

Oh Nico had questions. Hell, he could probably fill up all the books in the Athena Cabin with his questions (and that’s _a lot_ of books), but he remained silent.

Hecate took his ongoing silence as a no. “Alright then,” She said with a small smile. “I’ll see you in two days.”

As soon as Nico had shadow-traveled away Hecate turned to Hades with a suggestive smile.

“Those boys are so cute together, don’t you agree?” She said winking.

“Hell no I don’t! I don’t want that filthy Apollo boy tainting my innocent son!” Hades yelled aggressively.

Hecate just laughed and then disappeared in a flash of light.

***

####  ***Two days later***

Nico looked up at the sound of someone softly knocking on the door of the Hades cabin. He opened it and was immediately met with a bright smile and shining blue eyes.

“Hey babe,” Will said, leaning down and planting a kiss on Nico’s cheek. Nico blushed, still not used to the idea of having a boyfriend. “You almost done packing?”

Nico wasn’t actually done packing. He hadn’t started until fifteen minutes before Will showed up, avoiding packing his bags like it was the plague. But he knew that he needed to get it done before they left, so he dragged himself out of bed and grabbed a load of black T-shirts and skinny jeans. He shoved them haphazardly in his bag, not caring about folding them or trying to save space.

“Um,” Nico bit his lip, looking back at the mess that was his cabin. “Not really.”

Will laughed and stepped inside, rolling his eyes at the stray pieces of dirty laundry and the number of weapons strewn across the floor. “Here, let me help.”

Will grabbed fistfuls of clothes and threw them into Nico’s hamper, while Nico continued to pack, grabbing socks and underwear.

“Grab a scarf,” Will said. “It’s going to be a lot colder up there than it is here at camp.”

Nico rummaged around in his dresser ‘til he found a scarf, throwing it in the general direction of his bag. He also grabbed a thick coat and a spare pair of shoes, before zipping up his suitcase.

“All done,” Nico declared throwing a smirk over at Will.

“Not really sure why you’re so proud about it.” Will teased.

Nico huffed. He threw on some boots, grabbed his bag and headed to the top of Half-Blood Hill, Will right on his tail.

Hecate was waiting for them when they got there. She smiled at the pair, but Nico didn’t notice. He was too busy staring at the old, yellow rain boot the Goddess was holding.

“Glad to see you both made it.” Hecate said softly. She held up the boot. “This is a portkey. As I mentioned before, it will transport you where you need to go and give you all the information you require to fit in at Hogwarts. But, before you go, let’s go over your backstory, shall we? You two are both exchange students from Ilvermorny, a wizarding school here in America.

“The Headmaster is a man named Agilbert Fontaine, a name you will do well to remember if you want your story to check out. The evil wizard you are protecting Harry from is Voldemort."

Will and Nico both laughed at the name.

Hecate rolled her eyes and continued on as if nothing had happened. “—and the Headmaster at Hogwarts is the man I mentioned before, Albus Dumbledore. Anything else you may not know about there you can blame on the fact that you’re from America. Your knowledge of magic itself will be provided by the portkey.”

Hecate set the boot down on the ground and instructed both boys to grab hold of it.

As soon as Nico touched the thing, it felt like something was grappling onto him and pulling him up into oblivion. He felt lighter than air, and his body felt like it was being stretched into nothingness.

A mere millisecond later he was being spit back out and into the street. He and Will landed hard, probably looking anything but graceful. People gave them strange looks, but continued walking anyways.

They looked around and soon they saw it, a big, grimy building looming over them, labeled ’12 Grimmauld Place’.


	2. What's a Dark Mark?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really sure how often I'll be posting, just as often as I can. And some constructive criticism is completely welcome!

The two boys weren’t exactly sure what to do. Did they knock? Do they just walk in? They decided it couldn’t hurt to knock, so that’s exactly what they did.

Nico heard footsteps on the other side of the door. It opened just a crack before someone spoke.

“Who are you?”

Will gave his trademark smile. “My name is Will Solace, and this is my friend Nico di Angelo. We’re exchange students from the wizarding school in America, and we were told to come here by a friend of ours. She said she’s friends with Albus Dumbledore.”

The man narrowed his eyes but let them in anyways. The man had long, thick brown hair and had a very rugged look about him. He didn’t seem _old_ necessarily, it was more like he seemed _worn_.

“Dumbledore told us you’d be arriving soon,” He slammed the door and locked it tight. He peeped out the eyehole one last time before briskly walking down the hall, having the boys scrambling to catch up.

They passed many sets of doors and long winding hallways, and made many turns and twists, leaving Nico and Will to wonder where it was they were going.

The man turned left towards a large set of doors and pushed through them. Will wasn’t far behind, but Nico hesitated before going. How did he know he could trust these people?

He slowly walked in the room, all eyes on him and his boyfriend. He blushed bright red, hating all of the attention.

A chubby woman with curly red hair smiled like it was Christmas morning and stood up. “Nice to meet you both! Come sit down, we just set out the food!”

Will smiled just as brightly and came to sit down next to a girl with violet hair. Nico gave a little half-smile and sat down across from Will, next to a rather pretty girl with bushy hair.

The girl began talking immediately, not wasting a second. “What’s your name? Mine is Hermione Granger,” She smiled and stuck out her hand.

Nico took it and she shook it furiously. “Nico,” He mumbled.

She beamed. “Nice to meet you! I’ve never seen you before, are you from around here?” Nico shook his head. The girl continued to stare at him, as if waiting for something. He really just wanted to eat his meal in peace. He looked over to Will for help but found him deep in conversation with the girl sat next to him.

“I’m a transfer student from Ilvermorny,” He explained shortly, deciding that was really all he needed to get the girl going again.

Her eyes widened. “Really?!? I’ve never been to America before. What’s it like there? Does everyone have accents as pretty as yours?—” He blushed a bit there. “—How does it differ from the UK?” She babbled on and on, until Nico decided to just tune her out.

He wasn’t trying to be rude or anything, but he was just a bit overwhelmed from everything and Hermione was only making it worse. “Nico?” She asked, snapping him out of his reverie.

“Huh?” He asked distractedly.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. “I said your name four times. Are you alright?” She sounded genuinely concerned, despite only having met Nico ten minutes ago.

Nico gave a tight-lipped smile and reached out for his glass of water. “I’m fine, it’s all just a lot to take—”

He was suddenly cut off by a gasp so loud, half the table turned to look at Hermione in confusion. She was staring at his arm in shock, eyes wide, mouth agape.

“Is that—is that the dark mark?” She practically shrieked. Everyone was looking at the two of them now.

Nico looked at her in confusion before figuring it out. He pulled his sleeve down firmly to cover up his SPQR tattoo.

“The dark—what? No, it’s just something from camp.” He said honestly, leaning back in his seat a bit.

She looked at him skeptically and continued eating, but didn’t talk to him the rest of the night.

***

Nico knew Harry had arrived already, he just hadn’t seen him. He went to his room to introduce himself, but he was instead met with Ron, who told him Harry wasn’t there.

Nico had learned what the dark mark was, and figured Hermione had already told Harry about that, which is why the boy seemed to be completely avoiding him and Will.

One night at dinner, where Harry was strangely absent from, Nico got up to use the bathroom. On his way down the hall he ran into someone. The boy quickly apologized, and when Nico looked up, he found he was standing face to face with Harry Potter.

Harry seemed to recognize him as well, as his eyes widened slightly and he started to scurry away.

“Wait!” Nico cried.

Harry stopped and turned around, biting his lip. Nico pulled up the sleeve of his shirt and showed Harry his wrist. “See? Not the dark mark. Like I told Hermione, it’s just a thing from summer camp.” He rolled his eyes and pulled his sleeve back down.

“You get tattoos for your _summer camp_?” Harry asked, disbelief clear in his eyes.

Nico shrugged. “The kids there are really extreme. At least it’s not the dark mark, right?” He tried for a smile.

Harry smiled half-heartedly in return. “Yeah, sorry for avoiding you like that. It’s just, I’ve had some really bad experiences with Voldemort in the past. I’m just being cautious.” He explained.

Nico really did smile this time. “Oh, it’s cool dude. I totally get it. I mean, that guy killed your parents. None of us are blaming you if you’re a little paranoid.” Nico paused. “Um, sorry, was that parent’s thing insensitive?”

He _really_ needed to learn how to talk to people. Harry laughed, and Nico exhaled. “It’s okay, I’ve had a while to get over it.”

The boys talked the entire way back to the dining area, Nico forgetting completely about the bathroom. When they walked in Nico shot Will a quick wink and smiled internally.

As for their quest, so far, so good.


	3. Nico Almost gets a Concussion but doesn't because Magic

Hermione seemed really embarrassed about the whole Death Eater situation, having apologized almost 10 times already. Nico just shook it off, saying he _did_ kind of look like the type of person who would support Voldemort, which only made her even more bashful.

Nico was pretty sure that the greatest part of the whole experience was going to Diagon Alley.

The place was magical, literally and figuratively. Nico seemed fascinated by everything they saw. "Don't they have a place like this in America?" Harry questioned, not seeming to understand Nico's curiosity.

Nico smiled like a kid in a candy store. "It's nowhere near as amazing as this place."

On the cart ride in Gringott's, Will looked like he was going to be sick, whereas Nico was smiling infectiously. "Can we go again?"

The goblin smirked and they zoomed off at a speed even faster than before.

They got robes, cauldrons, books, pretty much everything you'd need. All they needed now was their wands.

"Don't you already have wands?" Hermione stated, being the sensible girl she was.

"New place, new beginnings. We wanted to start over fresh, and get the whole experience here. So we decided that included getting new wands too." Nico lied smoothly, making it all up on the spot.

The others nodded, totally falling for it, and Nico breathed a sigh of relief.

When they entered, Will and Nico noticed a small group of kids a few years younger than them there waiting. There was an old man with frizzy white hair grabbing a box off the shelves filled with what Nico could only guess were wands.

"Be with you in just a moment!" The man called. The group waited until the kids had cleared out before turning to the old man.

"What can I help you with?" He asked.

Hermione smiled, gesturing towards the two newcomers. "They just moved here from America and need new wands," She explained.

The man turned his cool gaze first towards Nico. "Let's start with you, shall we?"

Nico shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine by me."

Nico proceeded to go through almost twenty wands, destroying half the store in the process before finding the one. "12", cypress wood, thunderbird tail feather core!" He called out, handing the wand to Nico gently. He motioned for him to give it a wave.

Nico waved the wand slightly, but already felt a difference from the other wands. This one just felt _right_ in his hands.

"This is the one," He declared, smiling. Ollivander nodded approvingly and moved on to Will. 

Will's didn't take _nearly_ as long Nico's. He actually only went through two bad wands before finding his wand, a 10 1/2" wand made of alder wood with a unicorn tail hair core.

They bought the wands and left using floo powder, arriving back at 12 Grimmauld Place as it was starting to get dark.

Molly went straight to the kitchens, cooking up a quick meal for everyone, before sending the kids off to bed. Nico wasn't really tired, so he went ahead and packed his trunk, as term _was_ starting soon.

It didn't take him very long though, and soon he was left with nothing better to do than stare at the ceiling in boredom.

Eventually, he felt his eyes start to close and he drifted off into the world of sleep. Thankfully, he didn't have any dreams that night, but even better, no nightmares.

He supposed this quest wasn't so bad after all.

***

####  ***Two Weeks Later***

"There is no way in Hades I am running through a _wall,_ " Nico huffed, pouting and crossing his arms.

Will rolled his eyes and chuckled. That was _so_ Nico. "It's how to get to platform 9 3/4," He said soothingly.

"No," Nico argued. "It's how to get me a concussion."

Will wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's torso. "You'll be fine babe. We'll go through together, yeah?" Will asked, smiling gently.

Nico groaned. "Fine, but only for you." He said, roughly grabbing Will's hand.

Will's smile grew. "You ready? One... two..." On the count of three they ran.

Rather than running straight into brick wall like Nico expected they would, they appeared in another place, crowded with people pushing trolleys around filled with owls and cauldrons and wands. Nico looked around in amazement. "Woah," He breathed.

"Hey guys," Ron said, coming out of nowhere and making Will jump.

"Hey," Nico said, not taking his eyes off of his surroundings.

Ron looked at the train and back to the two boys. "Um, the train's getting ready to leave, so you guys might want to start unloading your stuff..." Ron reminded them.

They both scrambled onto the train, following Ron to the compartment where the others were sitting. There were already quite a few people in there, but the others assured them there was enough space.

Nico sat hesitantly down next a blonde girl reading a magazine called _The Quibbler_.

"Hi," She said softly, looking up from whatever she was reading. Nico noticed the picture on the page moving around and tried not to seem too shocked by it. 

_So I guess the pictures actually move around here,_ he thought, tucking that away into his brain so he didn't seem like a complete idiot and blow away their cover.

"I'm Luna," The girl said.

"Nico," He said shortly, turning away and towards the window. The girl went back to reading her magazine.

The ride went by pretty fast, and Nico managed to avoid having to join the conversation by pretending to have fallen asleep.

He didn't realize he had actually gone to sleep until he felt someone nudging his shoulder.

"Hmm?" He asked groggily, turning towards whoever woke him up. It was Luna.

"Just thought you might want to change," Then she pointed out the window. "And see the castle."

He turned to look and gasped at the sight. This place would have Annabeth a drooling mess. It was architectural genius.

Luna laughed at the expression on his face. "It is rather exquisite, isn't it?"

Nico just nodded, too shocked to say anything. He blushed, realizing how close they were to the castle. He hadn't even changed yet.

He rummaged around in his stuff for his robe, finally finding it after five minutes of digging ("This is why we organize," Will sang teasingly. "Oh shut-up," Nico muttered in reply). He threw it on quickly and tried putting on his tie but failed miserably.

"Here," Another boy named Neville offered. "Let me help."

By the time they arrived they all looked somewhat presentable.

Nico got off the train, waiting until it pulled away to look at the castle again.

And it was just that, a _castle_. It was massive, and beautiful, and intricate, and seemed perfectly fitting for a princess, despite it's old-time-ish appearance.

But it was also going to be his home for the next _year_.

 _I think I can get used to this_ , Nico thought, smirking and following after the rest of the group.


	4. Singing Hats with Attitude and Croaking Toads Who Wear Pink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like my writing is a bit basic, so I'm going to try to make things a lot more detailed in this chapter.

Nico lagged behind a bit, wanting to take in every inch of this breathtaking school before him. There wasn't actually that much to see, with all the kids crowding around and blocking Nico's view, but what he saw was enough.

There was a beautiful, glassy lake, with a large man standing beside it, telling the first years to all come to him. Nico then looked ahead of him, to see where it was they were going. There were hundreds of carriages, all being pulled by odd horse-like creatures.

"What are those things?" He breathed into Hermione's ear. "The ones pulling the carriages?"

She gave him a weird look. "The carriages pull themselves by magic. There's nothing there," She said, narrowing her eyes at him.

Luna grabbed his wrist. "Don't worry, I can see them too." She winked and walked back towards the front of the group.

Nico wasn't entirely reassured by that, but didn't mention the skeletal horses again.

He looked off to the side and saw something that resembled a football field, but with odd silver rings sitting at either end. He decided not to ask, figuring he'd find out sooner or later anyways.

They were close to the carriages, and about to get in, when a man with long, greasy black hair stopped them. "Nico di Angelo and William Solace, if you will please come with me," He drawled. "You will be riding with the first years so you can be sorted."

He didn't bother waiting for a response, just whipped around and stalked off. Will and Nico looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Nico shrugged and followed after him, Will right behind them.

The man with the greasy hair led them up to the big guy with the grizzly beard standing next to the lake. He smiled and held out his hand, first to Will, then to Nico. "I'm Hagrid, Gamekeeper at Hogwarts! You two mus' be the ones Dumbledore spoke about," He said, voice laced with a thick accent.

He led them to a boat with two little kids already inside, and told them this was how they were going to be getting to the castle. Nico's face visibly paled at the idea of riding across water to get to the school.

The boat ride did seem to go a lot better than Nico originally expected, and it also gave a lot of great views of the school grounds. When they got off and went up to the entrance, they were met with an older, strict-looking woman in long, emerald green robes.

She took them inside the castle and brought them to a room right beside the Great Hall, where they could hear the chatter of the kids in the next room over.

"Welcome," The old lady said, drawing everyone's attention to her. "My name is Professor McGonagall and I will be your transfigurations professor throughout your stay here at Hogwarts. In a few minutes you will be sorted into your Hogwarts Houses. Your House will become like your family here at Hogwarts. You will earn House points by doing something good, but disobeying a professor or breaking school rules will lose you House points. The House with the most points at the end of the year will win the House cup and get a celebratory feast in their honor."

When McGonagall finished her speech, she opened the doors leading to the Great Hall. It was massive, with one long table sat at the front of the room, where Nico guessed the professors sat, as everyone there were adults. There were four other tables running the length of the room, each decorated in certain colors.

One table was decorated in red and gold. Will noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting there and waved. They returned the gesture, all smiling brightly. The table on one side of them was colored green and silver, and on their other side it was yellow and black. Nico smiled, knowing those were his and Will's favorite colors. The table closest to them was blue and bronze, at which sat a girl with her back turned to them who Will thought looked surprisingly similar to his good friend, Lou Ellen.

McGonagall tapped Nico and Will's shoulders and held them back. "You two will be going last so that we can explain why you are here."

She walked off towards a stool in front the professors table. On top of the stool was a worn witches hat. Nico had seen a lot of things in his life, but he never could have guessed what would have happened next.

The hat started moving around, completely on it's own. Will and Nico shared a confused look, right before the hat ripped itself open, forming what looked oddly like a mouth. But here's the weird part, it next started _singing_.

Some weird song about Hogwarts, but Nico wasn't really listening. He was just standing there in shock, gaping at the singing hat, which called itself the Hogwarts Sorting Hat.

 _So I guess that's how we'll be sorted,_ Will thought, still a bit shook.

Nico was still too overwhelmed to form any coherent thoughts, so he just stood there like an idiot, until the Hat stopped singing and McGonagall began calling out names.

Despite their confusion, both boys did their best to remember the names of the Houses and what colours went with what names so they wouldn't look like complete idiots when they were sorted.

After all of the first years were sorted, Nico and Will were the only kids left. A lot of kids glanced at them in confusion, or gave them weird looks, before an old man with long, wispy white hair and a matching beard stood up, silencing the entire Hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" He said softly, but his voice seemed to carry across the Hall just fine. "This year we will be having two new exchange students joining us for their fifth year. They come from Ilvermorny, the wizarding school over in America. Since this is their first year here at Hogwarts, they will need to be sorted along with all of the first years."

The man then sat down, gesturing for McGonagall to continue. "di Angelo, Nico!" She called.

Nico felt a little bit like fainting. He didn't like everyone's eyes on him, and it made him feel very nervous. He walked up to the stool and sat down, letting McGonagall place the Sorting Hat on his head.

He jumped when he heard a gruff voice, seemingly in his head.

 _Nico di Angelo,_ the Hat drawled. _Now normally I'd sit here and contemplate about which House you should go in, but I've been given strict orders to place you and your boyfriend in Gryffindor. But... I don't want to rob you of the full experience. You would do great in Gryffindor, and possess many traits for that House. But you'd also do well in Slytherin, you'd fit in good there. But you should be grateful, saves you time from me trying to decide which one, since it's already been decided for me..._

"GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat boomed.

McGonagall removed the Hat, and Nico walked down to the table of red and gold, where everyone was clapping and cheering. He sat next to Neville, the boy giving him a small smile.

"Solace, William!" McGonagall called, wasting no time in moving on.

Will appeared a lot more at ease than Nico. Being a healer, he had never ending patience and tended to rarely get stressed out over things.

He sat down on the stool, a toothy smile taking up half his face. If Will was surprised when the Hat began talking to him, he didn't show it.

 _Well, if I were actually sorting you, you'd be a Hufflepuff for sure,_ the Hat muttered.

 ** _Actually_ sorting me?** Will thought, assuming the Hat could hear him.

_I was told to put you and di Angelo into Gryffindor, so you both can get closer to Harry. But just so you know, you are a Hufflepuff at heart, and that is your true House._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindors once again stood up to cheer for their new addition. Will beamed and sat directly across from Nico, in between Hermione and one of Ron's older brother's, although Will couldn't tell if it was Fred or George. Nico could somehow tell the difference between the identical redheads, which seemed to annoy the clones, as well as their mother, who couldn't tell them apart either.

The old man from before gave a quick speech, mentioning places they were forbidden to go to, and introducing himself as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Will didn't think he had intended for his speech to be a short one, but midway through he was cut off by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Hem, hem," A woman dressed completely in pink began to speak, interrupting Dumbledore rather rudely. "Thank you Headmaster, for those kind words of wisdom."

Everyone in the Hall looked shocked. Nico guessed that people didn't interrupt Dumbledore very often. It _was_ a rather rude thing to do.

Based off of the looks of the students in the Great Hall, Nico assumed he wasn't alone in deciding that he _already_ did not like this woman.


	5. Will's a Prophet!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 39th Birthday to Harry Potter, everyone's favorite boy! And Happy 53rd Birthday to JK Rowling, everyone's favorite author!

Nico sneered throughout the woman's entire speech, about being excited to be back at Hogwarts (yeah, sure), and getting to know everyone, and blah blah (it was honestly so boring everyone pretty much dozed off halfway through), until she finally _shut up_ and allowed Dumbledore to continue speaking.

"Yes, it certainly was illuminating," Hermione whispered.

"Huh?" Nico asked, having tuned out pretty much everything the toad-like woman was saying.

Nobody seemed to acknowledge his confusion. "You're not telling me you enjoyed it?" Ron asked, disbelief clear in his tone. "That was about the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew up with Percy."

Nico and Harry both chuckled softly.

"I said illuminating, not enjoyable," Hermione clarified. "It explained a lot."

"Did it?" Harry questioned. Honestly, Will and Ron seemed confused as well. Nico had a small inkling of what this meant. "Sounded like a load of waffle to me."

"There was some important stuff in that waffle, I'm sure," Nico piped up.

Hermione nodded. "Was there?" Ron asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes and huffed. "How about 'progress for progress's sake must be discouraged'?" She pointed out.

"And when she said 'pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited'?" Will added.

"It means that the Ministry is interfering with Hogwarts."

Everyone fell silent.

Nico was the first to break it. "Those bastards," He muttered.

Will kicked him under the table, and Nico met Will's warning look with a death glare.

Then Hermione jumped in surprise, as if she had forgotten something. "Ron, we're supposed to show the first years where to go! Nico, Will, we'll show you where our dorm is as well, come on."

Nico and Will followed after the pair, laughing as Ron called the first years ' _midgets_ ', earning a lecture from Hermione.

On the way to the dorm, Will and Nico shared a silent conversation.

_If the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts, what will this mean, for not only our quest, but the school?_

***

The next day, everyone met up once again in the Great Hall, for breakfast, and had just received all of their schedules.

Ron was complaining about how horrible his schedule was, but Will and Nico were having they're own problems just trying to _read_ it.

"Umm, you guys okay over there?" Hermione asked, looking at their dazed expressions.

Nico's face turned red. "Actually, we both happen to be dyslexic, so we're having trouble reading the schedule." He admits, his face reddening even more, if that's possible.

She smiles gently. "Well, it's looks like you have mostly the same classes as us, so we can show you where to go. First, we have history of magic. Second, we have charms. Third, we have double potions, and I'll warn you ahead of time that the teacher there likes giving out random questions to random students, so be prepared (Nico kept a mental note of that). Next, you all have divination, which I stopped taking a while back, so it'll just be you two and the boys. Lastly, we all have double defense against the dark arts together." She read out.

Nico nodded and thanked her, rewriting it on the back in Ancient Greek so he could recall it later.

Not much later they all left, Nico paying close attention to where they were going so he could get to classes just fine on his own.

History of Magic was sufficiently boring, except for one thing. The teacher was a literal ghost. He seemed kind of terrified of Nico at first but the fear kind of died down after he saw Nico reading his potions book throughout his lecture.

Nico seemed to be the only one awake in the class, other than Hermione, whom he was taking the advice of and reading before potions, hoping to know some of the stuff he's talking about before going there.

He followed the trio down into the dungeons, where he entered a musty smelling room with only candles to light it up, the place giving off spooky vibes.

The teacher with the greasy hair was standing at the front of the classroom. "Welcome," He said with a sneer. "My name is Professor Snape, for those of you who may not know it."

He looked pointedly at Will and Nico. The two boys sat next to each other, Hermione deciding to sit with them as well to make sure they understood everything alright.

"Now settle down," He said coldly, making a shiver run down Will's spine. "Before we begin today's lesson, I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting in an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. No exceptions." He looked in Will and Nico's direction.

"di Angelo!" He called, making Nico look up at him slowly.

"Yes?" Nico questions slowly.

Snape seems agitated by his arrogance, and decided to go for a more advanced question. "Tell me, what does the potion Amortentia smell like?"

Nico tried not to show how hard he was thinking.

_Amortentia… Amortentia… I know that book mentioned it somewhere..._

He smiled as he remembered it. "Amortentia has a different smell for everybody, smelling like whatever you find most appealing." Nico winked at Will and squeezed his hand. Will blushed at the affection.

Snape sneered and continued on with his lecture, yelling at a few kids along the way. They began creating a potion called the Draught of Peace. Hermione didn't spare a second, reading out the instructions for Will and Nico and them all doing it together.

Despite the fact that they all seemed to be doing the same thing, Will's potion had turned out horribly off, looking nothing like Nico's and Hermione's.

Snape looked down at their potions and tutted at the state of Will's.

"Solace, the directions are right up on the board, quite difficult to mess up," He said loudly, making a few Slytherin's laugh.

Will blushed as Snape walked away. He then proceeded to yell at Harry for forgetting one of the ingredients, bringing the attention away from Will. Hermione patted his arm and smiled.

"It's alright, Will. I'm sure you'll get it right next time." Will smiled appreciatively, finishing off his potion despite the fact that he knew it wouldn't turn out right.

Snape called out a few other kids on their supposed 'failures' of potions, before the class was finally dismissed and they could get out of that hellhole.

"You were right," Nico said, turning to Hermione as soon as they were out of Snape's earshot. "He was _horrible_."

She laughed. "Good thing I warned you. How'd you know about that Amortentia thing anyways?" She asked.

Nico shrugged. "I read the potions book in Professor Binns' class and it briefly mentioned Amortentia."

She smiled. "Well that's lucky. Good thing you remembered too," She said, winking.

They talked the rest of the way about potions and what potions they think they'll be doing in the future, until they had to split off from each other.

"Meet up right back there, got it guys?" Hermione called over her shoulder as she began walking towards her next class. Ron gave her a quick thumbs up before facing forwards.

It was a long climb up the divination tower, and both Ron and Harry were out of breath when they finally reached the top, but Nico and Will were just fine.

"How are you guys not breathing heavy?" Ron asked breathily.

Nico shrugged. "I work out."

Will smiled brightly. "I like to maintain a healthy lifestyle!" He said, overly cheerful.

Nico waited until Ron and Harry walked away to whisper to Will, "Sometimes I wonder how the two of us ever ended up together." Nico teased.

Will grabbed his hand. "True love," He sang.

Nico rolled his eyes, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

When they finally got inside, it was about as well lit as the potions classroom. The teacher was standing very clearly in the corner with the most shadow, trying to remain hidden but failing miserably. Once everyone had come in she stepped out, and some girls in the back gasped, as if they hadn't seen her there.

"Welcome," She said mysteriously. "I am Professor Trelawney. Today, we will be doing crystal balls, to see into the future of your fellow classmates. Now, some of you may not possess the gift, but don't be discouraged by that, it is a very rare and uncommon power to have."

She began setting out the crystal balls, and Nico resisted the urge to burst out into laughter. He opened up his book, looking down at it and back up into the swirly blue orb.

"So," He began, going back and forth between the book and the crystal. "I see a... sun, I think. So that means happiness. And a rose, so love. But also a... question mark? So caution. So you need to be cautious about love and happiness?"

It came out as more of a question. Will laughed and took the book from his boyfriend.

"What I see is... a dagger, so be wary of yourself and others. Also, I see a fence, so some minor setbacks. And lastly I see a..." Will's face turned white.

"What is it?" Nico asked.

Will slammed the book shut. "Nothing." He said quickly.

Trelawney came over to our table and looked at the crystal ball, gasping.

Everyone continued on, acting like nothing new had happened, except for the two girls in the back who were surprised by Trelawney's entrance. But based on Will's expression, Nico decided not to take this lightly.

She turned to Will. "Did you see it too?" She asked.

He nodded. "What is it?" Nico asked, starting to get annoyed.

"I believe you may have the sight," She whispered to Will, then turned towards Nico. "My boy, what I see is... the Grim. It is an omen of death."

Half the people turned towards the three of them at that. Nico just rolled his eyes.

"That's a load of rubbish." He said, not believing a word this lady said.

Will gave him a look saying: _We're on a_ quest.

Nico shrugs. _It's not even that dangerous_.

Everyone was talking about his soon-to-be death on the way down the divination tower.

"HEY!" Nico yelled, causing everyone to stop and look at him. "First of all, that lady is a fraud and clearly that prediction is _not true_. And second, it's just an omen of death, not my death specifically, so everybody stop saying I'm gonna die. Thank you!"

He continued back down the stairs, walking leisurely with the rest of his newfound friends who were giving him impressed looks.

By the time they got to DADA ( **A/N I'm just calling it that for my sake** ) Nico had been sufficiently pissed off by all of his teachers. He didn't know who the hell Cedric was, and he didn't know the full story, but when Umbridge started yelling at Harry his anger boiled over and he went off on her.

"Why don't you listen to his side of the story before imposing your opinion on him!" He yelled, earning himself a glare.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor!" She shrieked. "And detention for both of you!"

At this point, Nico honestly didn't care what happened anymore. Harry gave him an appreciative smile and Nico decided that it was worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw, this probably won't be for a while but there are going to be some burning maze (trials of Apollo book 3) spoilers in here (like, BIG spoilers) so if you haven't read that book yet I just want to caution you, but like I said before, it won't come until later on in the story


	6. Detention is for Losers (and Occasionally People Named Nico)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd say it's spicy at the beginning, but really it's not

The next day's classes seemed to drone on. There were only two but they were just _so boring_. Professor Flitwick and McGonagall pretty much just talked about their OWLs for a majority of the class, and Will and Nico probably weren't even going to stick around long enough to take them.

After those classes were through, they all had a bit of free time to hang out in the common room or go outside. Will was perfectly happy with just hanging out with the other Gryffindor kids in his year, but Nico seemed to just want to spend time with Will, and only Will.

Which brings us to now, with both boys curled up on Nico's bed in the boys' dormitories with the curtains around the bed drawn, talking about things that had happened at camp before they left.

"So Percy's not your type, huh?" Will asked with a teasing smile.

Nico turned bright red and buried his face in the pillow. "Do we have to talk about this right now?" Nico replied, embarrassed.

"When do you want to talk about it then?" Will asked.

"How about never?" Nico replied.

Will chuckled softly. "Okay, tomorrow works for me too."

"You're insufferable."

Will laughed for real this time, and Nico felt his face heating up when he felt slight pressure on his cheek from Will's lips.

"But you love me. I'm your significant annoyance, remember?"

Nico groaned while also trying to fight off a smile. "Whatever," He said, but couldn't keep the adoration out of his voice. "I'd like you a whole lot better if you kissed me for real."

Needless to say, Will delivered, pressing his lips to Nico's for real this time. It was soft and chaste, but it had so much love behind it that Nico thought he might start crying. Thankfully, he didn't, but when they disconnected their lips, Will had a concerned look on his face. 

"What's wrong?" 

"Nothing," Nico breathed out. "I'm just really happy." 

"Me too, Sunshine," Will whispered, and connected their lips one more time.

This kiss was more intense than the last. It started out slow, but got more intense as it went on. Nico hands moved to grip at Will's hair, while Wills hands slowly caressed the sides of Nico's face. The two maneuvered so Will's back was against the headboard of the bed, and Nico sat in his lap. 

At some point during the kiss, Will had started tugging on the son of Hades' bottom lip with his teeth. Nico clutches Will a little tighter, letting out little sounds of pleasure that were soon muffled by Will's mouth. Will then turned his attention to the little spot behind Nico's ear that he knew drove the other boy crazy, kissing and sucking on it lightly, and Nico continuing to let out little gasps and moans.

Before things could escalate, the door slammed open, startling the boys away from each other. Thankfully, the curtain around the bed was drawn, concealing the tow from the intruder.

"Will? Nico? Are you guys in here?" They heard Hermione ask. 

The boys spent a few seconds trying to look presentable, before opening the curtain.

"Yeah, we're here. What's up?" Will said, trying and failing to conceal the annoyance from being interrupted in his voice.

If Hermione noticed Will's annoyance, she sure didn't show it.

"Nico and Harry have detention together in 10 minutes, and it takes a while to get to the DADA classroom. I figured I might as well tell you before you're late and in even more trouble."

"Thanks, Hermione," Nico said. He got up from his spot on the bed, and made his way out the door past Hermione.

Hermione didn't notice Will's annoyance, but she _did_ however notice Nico's swollen lips, as well as the blonde's messed up hair.

***

Nico purposely walked slow to detention, so he would show up a couple minutes late. Umbridge tried to look calm but her glaring at him like that wasn't helping.

In Nico's opinion the room looked like it was decorated by a 5 year old girl. He resisted the urge to barf. _No, I'll save that for when Umbridge is right in front of me._

"Welcome students, to detention." She said in a sickly sweet voice.

Nico sat down next to Harry, sending a glare Umbridge's way.

She pretended not to notice, and opted to give a fake smile their way as she grabbed two quills and pieces of parchment.

"Now," she started, "for your punishment, you will be writing sentences. Harry, you will write 'I must not tell lies', and Nico will be writing 'I must respect my elders'."

_Bitch I'm older than you!_ Nico thought, seething.

"How long are we supposed to write?" Harry asked, almost as angry as Nico.

"Until the message sinks in." She laughed a fake laugh, and sat down at her desk with a cup of tea.

Nico internally groaned, and reluctantly sat down and began to write.

After the first sentence was done, Nico felt a tingling on his hand. He ignored it at first, but after a few more sentences, it really started getting on his nerves. He stopped writing to scratch his hand, but what he saw horrified him. He saw the words 'I must respect my elders' scratched on his hand. The skin hadn't broken yet, but he was smart enough to know that after a few more sentences it would. He looked over at Harry, and noticed that he had the same problem. In that moment, Nico knew the best thing to do would be to follow his instincts. And in this case, his instincts were screaming 'GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!'. 

"Professor Umbridge?" Nico asked warily.

"Yes, dear?" She replied, setting down her cup of tea.

"I think the message has sunken in."

"Very well." She said. "You may leave, since your actions were not as severe as Mr. Potter's. Just know, I never want to see you in this class again."

Nico had never been so scared of an old lady before. Well, minus Gaea, but she's immortal and an evil goddess, but that's besides the point.

"Yes ma'am." Nico said. And as fast as he could, he walked out of the classroom, and shadow traveled onto his bed in the Gryffindor dormitory, where he found Will reading a book on medicine on his own bed across the room.

"Bloody hell Nico! How'd you do that?!" Ron exclaims.

_Shit._


	7. And the Best Boyfriend Award Goes to... Will Solace!

~~~~Will immediately spun around in shock, having completely forgotten that Ron was in the room as well. Before he could say anything, there was a loud snapping sound and Ron slumped over, unconscious.

Will turned back around towards his boyfriend, only to find him passed out as well. He internally screamed at Nico for abusing his powers. He was going to get himself seriously hurt; or worse, killed.

He quickly checked over the younger boy, making sure that him shadow-traveling didn't harm his body in any way. He knew it was a bit far-fetched, but what can he say? This is his boyfriend, his sunshine. Of course he was going to be a bit overprotective!

As Will was checking over Nico to make sure he was okay, he noticed something on his hand. He picked the hand up to inspect it, and found angry red scratches on it. Will knew the scratches spelled out words, but he couldn't make any sense of them due to his dyslexia. But he didn't care about what they spelled. All he knew was that he was going to kill whoever did this to Nico. And thankfully, Will already had a pretty good idea of who that person was.

 _Umbridge,_ Will thought furiously.

After dropping the hand, Will picked the son of Hades up bridal style and moved him towards his bed, almost stepping on Ron in the process. He set Nico down gently on the bed, and moved over to his trunk to grab his medical supplies. When Nico saw Will packing his bandages and other doctor stuff before they came, he made fun of him at first, saying that taking it would be 'unnecessary' and 'impractical'.

 _Impractical, huh?_ Will thought smugly.

Part of the reason that he packed all his stuff was because his Nico-sense was tingling, and he knew that the son of Hades was bound to get in trouble at some point. Plus, Will didn't want some crackpot nurse taking care of his Death Boy when he was _perfectly capable_ of doing so himself.

Once Will had grabbed the bandages, he wrapped them gently around Nico's scratched-up hand. Once he was finished, he stood up and pressed a kiss to Nico's temple.

"Please wake up soon, Sunshine."

As Will was walking away, he heard snores coming from the passed out redhead. At that moment, a feeling of dread fell over Will, and he felt like he might pass out too.

"Oh gods, how am I supposed to explain this?" Will muttered anxiously. His mind began moving at a rapid pace, hundreds of ideas all coming and going at a mile a minute.

_I could tell people he fell and hit his head? No, that's to simple. I could carry him too his bed and say he fell asleep? No, I don't want to carry him. I could just throw him out the window? NO, WILL YOU'RE A **DOCTOR** FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!_

"W-Will?"

Will was snapped out of his panicked state by the sound of Nico's voice. The son of Hades was attempting to sit up from his spot on the bed, and he looked ready to pass out again.

Will rushed towards Nico, capturing him in a bone-crushing hug. Even though Nico was still weak from using his powers, he did his best to wrap his arms around his boyfriend, burying his face in the blonde's shoulder. 

"Nico, thank gods you're okay!" Will said. He released Nico from he hug and crashed their lips together in a kiss.

When they both pulled away from the kiss, Nico looked at Will and said, "Man, if this is how you greet me when I wake up then I should pass out more often."

"You pass out from using your powers, causing me to have a miniature panic attack, and _that's_ the first thing you say to me?"

Nico let out a breathy laugh. He grabbed Will's shirt and pulled the blonde to him for another hug, resting his head on Will's shoulder. Normally, Nico wouldn't be the one to instigate affection, but he needed something to keep him grounded. And in this case, that something was Will.

"Ti amo tanto." Nico whispered. He could feel Will tighten his grip on him at his words.

Unfortunately, their intimate and heartfelt moment was interrupted by a groan coming from Ron, who was still on the floor. The boys quickly separated when they realized that the redhead was coming to.

Ron sat up, and when his eyes settled on Nico, he pointed an accusing finger him.

"You," he said pointing at Nico. "You just appeared out of nowhere! How the bloody hell did you do that?!"

 _Well_ , Will thought to himself, _looks like we might have to throw him out the window after all._

Luckily, before Will committed involuntary murder, Nico intervened.

"What are you talking about?" Nico asked, playing dumb.

"You! One second you were at detention, and the next you justappeared out of thin air! And people can't apparate inside of Hogwarts, so how the hell did you just do that?!" Ron shouted, causing both demigods to cringe at the sound of his voice.

"Ron, you were asleep." Nico said.

"Huh?"

"Ron, you were asleep when I got here." Nico said. Even though Nico would never admit it, he was silently sending prayers to every god he could think of and asking them to make Ron believe his lie.

"You're joking. You have to be joking." Ron said in shock.

"Nope, you were asleep." Will added. "You fell off the bed a few seconds ago. That must've been what woke you up."

Ron looked like he'd been smacked in the face, and his ears were a bright shade a red.

"Well then," He said sheepishly. "Sorry I freaked out."

"Don't worry about it." Will said with a blinding smile. He moved towards the redhead and offered a hand. Ron reluctantly took it, then turned to head downstairs to the common room, muttering a quiet 'sorry' before the door closed behind him.

Both boys let out a sigh of relief. 

"Thank gods that's over." Nico said.

"Yeah, no kidding." Will said clutching his chest. "I felt like I was gonna have a heart attack."

Nico let out a laugh, then fell backwards onto his bed, the mattress letting out little squeaks.

"Oh, by the way," Will began, "How did you get Ron to fall asleep?"

"Since I'm a Hades kid, I have a little control over sleep. Not exactly as powerful as a Hypnos kid but I can make someone fall asleep."

"Oh," Will said. He moved over to Nico's bed, sitting on the edge of it so he wouldn't accidentally lay on top of one of his boyfriend's flailed out limbs. Nico had plopped down on the bed and spread out his arms and legs like a starfish.

While Will was sitting down on his bed, he wondered what his siblings were doing. He wondered if anybody had gotten majorly injured during capture the flag yet, or if the Apollo cabin had gotten any new campers recently. He was staring into space, wondering if Kayla and Austin were doing okay handling the infirmary without him, when he felt a something land in his lap.

He looked down to see a mop of black hair resting in his lap. Will gave a soft smile, and gently moved his fingers so that they were carding through Nico's hair. Nico gave a satisfied hum, and nuzzled into Will's legs

Both boys didn't care that someone could walk in at that moment and see them, and they didn't care that some homophobic asshole could give them shit for it. No, the only thing they cared about was that they were with each other.

***

#### Four Days Later

Most of the other classes seemed to go by fine, with one exception, that being Madam Hooch's class. When Nico saw the other kids lift up into the air and begin to actually _fly_ he completely lost it, freaking out and refusing to even try getting on the supposed _'_ _death trap_ _'_.

Madam Hooch used every trick in the book, but she couldn't get the Italian boy anywhere near a broomstick. After about an hour of sitting there attempting to get a boy deathly afraid of heights on a broomstick and having no luck, she gave up and went back to actually teaching her class.

Will actually enjoyed flying class, unlike his boyfriend, and seemed to excel in a majority of his classes, potions being one exception, as well as history of magic. But who could blame him? Almost everyone has a hard time even staying awake during Professor Binns' lectures.

Nico was also doing pretty well for himself as far as his grades went, despite the fact that he killed almost every plant in the greenhouse during herbology. Needless to say, Professor Sprout was thoroughly confused. Luckily she didn't seem to suspect Nico, and just assumed she got a bad batch of plants. Also, there was the whole thing with flying, so Nico was pretty much failing that class.

Both boys were actually enjoying their stay quite a bit, but Will couldn't help but let his thoughts wander elsewhere. Everywhere he went, he saw that strange Ravenclaw girl that resembled Lou Ellen. And he thought back to what Hecate had said before, about someone else joining them along the way on their quest. But it couldn't be Lou Ellen herself, that would be impossible.

Was it a relative then? She just looked so much like her, pretty much identical, but Will's never truly gotten a great look at her. And it couldn't be Lou Ellen's mom, that was Hecate. Maybe her aunt on her dad's side then? 

"Hello? Earth to Will?" He heard someone say, snapping him back to reality.

"Huh?" He asked, and looked up at his boyfriend.

Nico rolled his eyes. "I could hear you thinking. What's up?" He asked, scooting a bit closer.

"Nothing really," Will replied, dazed, and the younger boy cocked an eyebrow. "Just this Ravenclaw girl I saw. She looks a lot like Lou Ellen, and I'm wondering if she's supposed to be the third member of our quest." He explained.

"Have you ever thought that maybe it actually _is_ Lou Ellen?" Nico questioned.

Will sighed. "Yeah, I thought about that, but it wouldn't be possible. I mean, we're in the past for Apollo's sake."

Nico rolled his eyes, yet again. "Our parents are literal Gods, so anything's possible at this point. Besides, her mom is the Goddess of magic, so maybe children of Hecate can time travel." He reasoned.

Will thought it over. "Fair point. But why would she be sent here separate? Why wouldn't Hecate just send us all together?"

Nico shrugged. "I don't know, why don't you ask her." He suggested. "Now, do your homework, and stop stressing. It'll all come together in the end."

Will sighed, not completely satisfied, but picked up a piece of parchment anyways and began working on his potions essay.

***

#### A Week Later

It had been two full weeks since Will and Nico had come to Hogwarts, and to Will's horror, he realized he hadn't taken Nico on a date yet.

I mean, this is the literal world of MAGIC! There are so many things to do, so many things to see, and Will hasn't taken Nico to a single damn one of them. To say he felt ashamed was a bit of an understatement. 

So, that brings us to the present, where Will is currently dragging Nico, who has a blindfold on, to a special location that Will picked for a date. On the way there, Nico had almost fallen at least five times, so the blindfold thing may not have been the best idea, but it was worth it to surprise Nico.

"Will, just tell me where we're going." Nico groaned. Even though he was annoyed by the fact that he kept tripping over a root or branch every five seconds, he was secretly excited about whatever Will had planned.

"No can do, Sunshine." Even though Nico couldn't see, he knew Will was smiling his stupid (beautiful, but he'd never admit that out loud) smile. And honestly, he couldn't tell if that made him want to punch him or kiss him.

They walked for a bit longer before they came to an abrupt halt. Nico felt Will move behind him, then felt his hands move to untie the knot that held the blindfold together.

All Nico could see was blinding light, before his eyes adjusted, and he saw a blanket laid out under a tree on a small patch of grass near the lake, with a small basket laying next to it. From where he was, he could see the entire Hogwarts castle, as well as some parts of the quidditch pitch. Needless to say, the view was breathtaking.

"What do you think, Sunshine?" Will asked, his arms sliding around Nico's waist to hold him from behind.

"Will, this is gorgeous." Nico said, smiling so wide it hurt.

"I'm glad you like it." Will said, planting a kiss on Nico's cheek. He then released Nico from the hug, and grabbed his hand, holding it firmly. "Now, let's go eat."

Nico followed Will to the blanket, sitting down and reaching over to open the basket. When he opened it, he found sandwiches, salad, pasta, fresh strawberries, and what looked like chocolate cake all in the basket. "Will, how did you get all this?"

"I pulled a few strings with some of the Gryffindor house elves." Will shrugged like it was no big deal.

Nico was surprised at first. The only house elf he'd ever met was Kreacher, and interacting with him was never a pleasant experience, so he was pretty surprised that Will could get someone of the same species as Kreacher to ever do anything for him. But then again, his boyfriend could charm people better than some Aphrodite kids, so he got over his initial shock quickly.

"Wait," Will jumped up, startling Nico a bit, "I haven't shown you the best part yet. Do me a favor and step near the water for a sec."

Nico was once again confused, but he went near the edge of the the water anyways. When he turned around, imagine his shock when all traces of his boyfriend and the picnic had vanished. Will was nowhere to be seen. Nico panicked for a moment, before he heard his boyfriend's laughter. He looked ahead towards the sound, and then Will reappeared in front of him.

"H-How!?" Nico yelled.

Will laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling him back towards the tree. Then, as if he'd stepped over an invisible line (which he kind of did) the picnic appeared again.

"It's a charm Hermione taught me." Will said, pulling Nico to sit back down beside him on the blanket. "So we don't have to worry about anybody seeing us."

Nico then felt really stupid. _Duh_ , it was a world of _magic_.

"Oh," was all Nico managed to say before he felt his cheeks warm with embarrassment.

Will smiled at the sight of his slightly embarrassed boyfriend. "Gods, you're adorable." Will said as he grabbed him and Nico's intertwined hands and kissed the pale boy's knuckles.

Once again, Nico felt his cheeks go from a pale pink to a dark crimson.

 _How did I get so lucky_ _?_ Will asked himself.

Once Nico recovered from his embarrassment, he grabbed one of the sandwiches from the basket and took a bite of it.

_Holy Hera this is good._

Nico tried his best to not inhale the sandwich immediately, but he ultimately ended up failing, crumbs falling on the blanket as he devoured it. Nico should probably slow down, but he didn't really care since Will was right next to him, doing the exact same thing.

The two boys paused their eating to look at each other, laughing when they realized they were both inhaling their food like animals. Nico made a mental note to ask the house elves to make more of the sandwiches.

While they were eating, Will saw that there were crumbs on the side of Nico's mouth. And of course, being the amazing boyfriend that he is, he moved a hand towards Nico's mouth and wiped the bread crumbs away. Nico blushed a bit, but he leaned his head against Will's shoulder in response. Will wrapped an arm around Nico, pulling him in closer. Nico didn't seem to mind the affection.

They finished their meal fairly quickly, opting to talk about anything that came to their minds for the remainder of their date. At some point during their time spent out here, the sun had begun to set. Also at some point during the date, Nico had ended up in Will's lap and had not moved since (At one point Will tried to feed him strawberries, and Nico was embarrassed at first but quickly got over it).

So there they were, Nico in Will's lap, watching the sun set over Hogwarts. It was honestly one of the most beautiful things Nico had ever seen. And better yet, he got to see it with Will.

Nico felt Will rest his chin on his shoulder, pressing tiny kisses on Nico's neck.

"I love you, Sunshine." Nico heard Will say.

Nico moved his head so he was facing Will, and pressed his lips to his in a kiss. It was slow, and steady. In Nico's eyes, it was perfect. They stayed like that for gods know how long, until Nico reluctantly pulled away.

"I love you too."

They stayed there watching the sunset until it was almost completely dark out. The boys knew that there would be some questions when they got back to the dorms, but they both silently agreed to deal with that when the time came. Right now, it was just them in their secret spot; hidden, happy, and totally in love with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ti amo tanto=I love you so much, if you care cuz we all know how much work translating sites are


	8. Nico has a Stalker and Will almost Commits First-Degree Murder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics=Thoughts  
> Italics+Bold=Greek
> 
> Yay! First day of term!

One person the trio often talked about, or rather _complained_ about, was Draco Malfoy.

Nico had seen him before, but had never bothered talking to him. Besides, he didn't think he wanted to talk to the boy, based off of what he's heard of him from pretty much everyone in Gryffindor.

Come to think of it, Nico hadn't ever seen him _talk_ to the trio. Whenever he did decide to bother them, Will and Nico were often elsewhere. They often would find out about it when the trio entered the common room after. Harry would come in fuming, Hermione would pretend like nothing's wrong but close doors with a little more force then necessary, and Ron would be muttering something along the lines of 'stupid prick' under his breath.

He didn't want to judge him too quickly, and wanted to make up his own mind about Draco. The kids at camp would always have preconceived ideas of him based off of rumors and would then avoid him because of it. He didn't want to give Draco the same treatment.

So Nico didn't hate him, or despise him, or anything along the lines of how the others felt about him. No, he was just indifferent. He didn't hate Draco, but wasn't going out of his way to talk to him either.

But one day in transfiguration, Draco let his true colors show, and Nico didn't let a single thing go unnoticed about the boy.

They were learning the Multicorfors Spell, which could change your or someone else's clothes.

Draco wasn't the best at spell-casting, but he still managed to complete the spell on his fourth try. Will, always being rather proficient in transfiguration, managed to get it right on only his third attempt. Harry completed it on his eighth, Ron on his ninth, and Hermione, being the genius she is, only had one go at the spell and had already mastered it.

But Nico was struggling. He was trying and trying, repeating the hand motions over and over again, chanting the spell in his head again and again, but he couldn't change the clothes on the mannequin.

He wasn't sure why he was struggling so much. Was it the pronunciation? Was he doing the wand movement incorrectly?

Nico heard a teasing laugh come from the seat behind his. "What, having trouble newbie? It's really not that difficult."

He gritted his teeth and whipped his head around to shoot a nasty glare over at whoever was speaking. As it turns out, it was the infamous Draco Malfoy. He smirked smugly when he saw the blonde flinch in fear.

"What? Scared, Malfoy?" Nico taunted.

Draco sneered. "At least I can properly perform magic." Draco shot back.

"Yeah? Well if you don't shut up, some of my _properly performed magic_ is gonna send your ass to the hospital wing."

"Bring it!"

Both boys sprang from their seats, aiming their wands at each other.

" _Stupefy!_ " Nico yells.

At the same time Draco calls out, " _Flipendo!_ "

Both boys go flying backwards. Nico lands awkwardly on his elbow, but ignores the pain and stands up, completely ready to fire another jinx at his opponent, when McGonagall intervenes.

"That is _enough_ _!_ " She yells, pursing her lips and glaring at both boys. "Twenty points from each of your Houses! And detention tomorrow with me!"

Both boys groan simultaneously, and then glare at each other harshly. Will rushes over to Nico as soon as McGonagall returns to her desk. Draco huffs and stalks off to stand in between Crabbe and Goyle.

"-alright? It looked like you fell pretty hard and kind of awkwardly too." Nico jumped, not realizing that Will had been talking.

Nico waved away his boyfriends concerns. "I'm fine, maybe a bruise, but nothing more."

"A _bruise_?!?!" Will looked livid, glaring over at Draco as if he planned to rip out his throat. "I swear I will murder him." He muttered darkly, and wrapped a protective arm over Nico's shoulders.

Nico brushed it off almost as soon as it appeared. "Calm down, babe. I'm okay. And no PDA, remember?"

Will seemed to calm down, but still looked slightly homicidal, so Nico decided to keep an eye on him.

Will didn't leave Nico's side for the rest of class, acting as if his arm had just fallen off, and not letting Nico do anything for himself, including walk more than five feet without Will as a crutch. But despite his over-protectiveness and the watchful eye he kept over Nico for the rest of the night, he seemed oblivious to the long, calculating look Nico gave Draco before they left class.

***

Nico wasn't sure what detention with McGonagall was going to be like. At this point, he just hoped it wasn't anything like detention with the toad.

 _God I hate that woman,_ Nico thought bitterly.

With McGonagall Nico actually came on time, waiting until the last minute and then shadow-traveled right outside her classroom. He did his best to ignore his slight dizziness from the use of his power.

When he came inside McGonagall was grading papers, and Draco was nowhere to be found. "Take a seat, Mr. di Angelo." She said, not looking up from her papers.

 _I wonder how she knew it was me,_ Nico thought, as he took a seat in the far back corner.

About 5 minutes later, Draco finally came in, looking slightly more pissed off than usual. He took a seat as far away from Nico as he could possibly get, sitting in the front, right by the door.

"Honestly," McGonagall began. "I don't have anything for either of you to do, so you both can just work on your homework for the next two hours. No talking, and you're only allowed to get up for the bathroom. Is that clear?"

Both boys nodded, albeit reluctantly. McGonagall smirked and continued grading worksheets and essays.

Nico, who had finished most of his classwork, decided to catch up on some reading. He pulled out a potions book he had checked out of the library a couple days back, on poisons. He sat back and kicked his feet back up on the desk, trying to get as comfortable as possible in the cramped space. Nico read about five pages before he started to get fidgety. 

This was horrible. Usually in class they were standing and performing spells or they were at least allowed to move around a bit. But here he felt confined, trapped. He set down the book after reading the same sentence eight times. He couldn't focus. He set his feet down on the ground and started tapping his foot quickly on the floor.

His hands. They felt so empty, had nothing to do. He absentmindedly started playing with a strand of his hair. Ten minutes in and his ADHD was already going crazy. "Professor?" He called, starting to get seriously agitated.

"Hmm?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Can I practice some spells in here?" He asked, desperately wanting to get out of this cramped desk space. His foot started tapping even harder and faster than before.

She waved him on and continued on her work, so he got up and practiced a few easy spells, to get himself warmed up. He stood there, shooting spells at the wall and random, invaluable objects, for about thirty minutes, before he ran out of spells to practice and went back to his seat, groaning with discomfort.

Now, what to do? He couldn't read, he was too hyper for that, or any of his schoolwork either. He hadn't realized he was loudly tapping his fingers against the desk until he heard someone clear their throat.

He looked up to see McGonagall giving him a pointed look and Draco glaring daggers at him. "Is there something you need, Mr. di Angelo?" McGonagall asked, pursing her lips.

Nico blushed in embarrassment. "Uh, n-no, i-it's just kinda cramped in h-here." He managed to stutter out.

McGonagall tutted and looked back down at her work.

The next hour or so seemed to drag on, with Nico going to use the bathroom four separate times, just for an excuse to get up and walk around. Finally, McGonagall dismissed them, and Nico sprinted out of the room.

Nico ran down the corridor, and turned down another. After a bit, Nico didn't really feel like running anymore, so he slowed his pace down to a walk. Though when he slowed down, he heard a sound coming from the corridor he just came from. After a few more steps, he determined that the sound was footsteps.

Now, Hogwarts is a big place with a lot of people in it, so hearing another pair of footsteps should be normal, right? Normally, yes. But, Nico couldn't fight the sneaking suspicion that these footprints were a little too quiet for someone who is just walking down a hallway and minding their own business.

Testing his theory, Nico slowed came to an abrupt halt. Almost like clockwork, the other pair of feet stopped as well.

_Okay, this is getting creepy._

If this were a horror movie, this is the part were the main character would start sprinting down the hall, desperate to get away from whatever was following them. But this isn't a horror film. And this is Nico di Angelo were talking about. Hades didn't raise a pussy.

Nico spotted a suit of armor a few feet on from of him near the wall. Very quietly, he crept behind the armor, morphing some of his body into the shadows. He wasn't completely invisible. You could see him if you really tried, but he was hidden enough. Plus, even if he was spotted, he could shadow travel back to the boys' dormitories in Gryffindor tower. Nico silently hoped that it wouldn't come to that though, since he didn't want a repeat of last time.

After what felt like an eternity, the footsteps started again, moving at a faster pace than before. To Nico's surprise, Draco emerged from the other hallway, looking confused.

The blonde made his way down the hallway, seemingly observing everything he passed. Nico sunk a little deeper into the shadows the closer Draco got. When the blonde finally got to the suit of armor, Nico held his breath as steel grey eyes roamed over the his hiding spot.

After what felt like an eternity, Draco finally moved on.

"Where the hell did he go?" Draco quietly muttered to himself. 

Nico waited until Draco's footsteps had completely disappeared before emerging from his hiding spot, and before you could say _"Braccas meas vescimini"_ , Nico was in front of the portrait of Gryffindor tower.

"Password?" The fat lady asked.

"Lady, if you do not let me through this door _right now_ I swear to gods I will break it down myself."

The portrait swung open in record timing (well, as far as Nico knew, since he'd only been here for so long) and he bolted inside. He got a few odd stares from some lingering second years, and he almost tripped on his robes going up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.

***

Will felt himself jump when the door to the room slammed open. We dropped the book on medicine he was reading, and turned to glare at whoever decided it was a good idea to break the door at 10:00 at night. But once Will realized that it had been Nico, his glare dropped immediately, then morphed into a frown when he noticed the slightly panicked look on his face.

Will rushed up from his bed and towards Nico, who quickly muttered the words _" **we need to talk** " _in ancient greek. The blonde grabbed Nico's hand gently and pulled him downstairs, failing to notice the confused stares of Harry, Ron, and Neville when he shut the door behind him.

Will pulled Nico into the commons, where he saw that there were still some second years lounging about.

"Go. Leave." Will growled. He knew that if Nico was this panicked, then it was probably a private matter that needed discussing.

The second years quickly grabbed their belongings and rushed up the staircase. Will led Nico towards the couch, and they both sat down, still not disconnecting their hands.

Will's blue eyes stared into Nico's dark brown ones. _" **What happened, Sunshine?** "_ Will asked in ancient greek, telepathically telling Nico that it's more private to talk about whatever it is in a language nobody except them can understand.

Nico took a deep breath before telling Will everything. Everything from his ADHD acting up in detention, to McGonagall giving him weird looks, to hiding behind a suit of armor because Draco was stalking him.

Needless to say, by the end of the story Will looked absolutely _murderous_.

 _That boy better have an actual weapon_ , Will thought, _because a stick isn't gonna help him when I get my hands on him._

The two demigods continued to talk privately, unaware of the three pairs of eyes observing them from the top of the stairwell.


	9. The Trio (Mainly Hermione) Connect some Dots

Hermione was a bit surprised to hear doors slamming this late at night. She had been talking to Ginny about some assignment for Charms when she heard the sound. Even though she wasn't really surprised, she was in fact annoyed.

 _Honestly, who the hell slams doors this late?_ Hermione asked herself.

She excused herself from her conversation with Ginny. As a prefect, it was her responsibility to reprimand other students for breaking rules.

 _It's probably just some first years_ , she thought.

When she opened the door, she saw two boys at the top of the stair well. Upon further investigation, she found out that it was in fact Harry and Ron. She made her way up to where they were and saw that they were crouching down and looking at something in the common room.

"What are you guys doing out here?" She whispered.

The two boys turned around, worried at first, but they relaxed when they noticed it was just Hermione.

"It's Will and Nico," Harry whispered, turning back to what must have been the two formerly mentioned boys in the common room.

"What about them?" Hermione asked, moving to sit beside the others.

"Nico burst through the door to the boys' dorms a few minutes ago. Then Will just up and left with Nico, without saying anything," Ron said quietly, confusion evident in his tone.

"They're on the couch talking," Harry whispered. "We can't hear what they're saying though."

As curious as Hermione was about Will and Nico, she still felt a little guilty eavesdropping.

"Are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, they're our friends, right? We should respect their privacy."

"Oh, come on Hermione. You can’t tell me you aren't curious about them as well," Ron said.

It was true, Hermione was _really_ curious about them. Ever since they'd gotten to Hogwarts they've been a little weird; like refusing to talk about certain topics, sneaking off during the day, and sometimes even speaking in a language that Hermione had never even _heard_ _of_.

So, her curiosity got the best of her, and she continued to eavesdrop on the two. The trio was deadly silent, each listening closely to see if they could hear what the two were saying.

After a bit longer of sitting and listening, none of the trio could make out any specific words. However, there was _one_ thing that they all silently agreed on.

That is definitely _not_ English.

"What the bloody hell are they saying?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Harry responded. He looked like he might get a headache with all the thinking he was probably doing. "Hermione?"

"I have no idea," The boys were absolutely baffled by that. I mean, it's not often that Hermione doesn't have the answer for most things. "You two should head back to the dorms before they go back and realize you were eavesdropping."

"What about you?" Ron asked.

"I'll stay up here for a bit longer. It's not like they'll notice that I'm not in the girls' dorms,"

The boys nodded and quietly made their way down the stairs. Hermione stayed crouched at the top of the stair well, continuing to listen to Will and Nico speak in their mystery language.

The longer that she stayed there, the more she began to notice the position the two were in. She noticed how Will was actually holding Nico's hand, and how the two were sitting closer than friends do. When she saw the two making their way off the couch, hand in hand, she almost gasped when she saw Will kiss Nico's forehead, then peck his lips.

 _I knew it_ _._

Hermione had suspected that the two were dating for a while now, and this only just confirmed her beliefs. She was a little disappointed though. She did have a tiny crush on Will when she first saw him. He was really nice to her, and volunteered to carry her bag one time because it was so heavy. And, of course, he was _really_ cute.

Despite her slight jealousy, she knew that the boys were perfect for each other. They completed each other in a way she'd never seen before. However, this still didn't stop her from being cautious of them. She was definitely talking to Ron and Harry at some point, and she'd find a way to leave their relationship out of it.

She waited until she knew that they'd gone back to the boys' dorms to leave her little hiding spot. On the small journey back to her room, she made a silent promise to keep Will and Nico's secret safe. After all, she did kind of owe them one, since she was spying on them.

***

"So what did you want to talk about?"

Hermione had no idea what in the world she was doing sitting in one of the booths in the back of the Three Broomsticks. The dim lighting made the normally lively hangout slightly eerie. The only sounds other than the trio were some old witches nearby making lively gossip.

Right after she left potions class earlier that day, Harry had come up behind her and whispered 'we need to talk' in her ear, before hurrying away towards the next class.

Ron was there, too, the two of them sitting on either side of Harry. Harry has yet to say anything about why they were there, wasting a perfectly nice afternoon in a semi-crowded place that smells strongly of butterbeer. Hermione had already been frustrated when Harry told her that they needed to talk. Earlier in potions class Professor Snape took 5 points away from Gryffindor because Hermione raised her hand to answer a question. It is Snape, but that's still a bit harsh, even for him.

The trio had each ordered a butterbeer, and they were still waiting on them when Hermione asked about their little meeting. Even though they'd known each other for years, it was a little awkward, what with Harry not telling them why they were there, and Hermione trying to keep Nico and Will's relationship a secret. But can you really blame her? They're her best friends, and she tells them almost everything. Ron seemed to be the only one unaffected by the atmosphere, continuing to talk to Harry and Hermione like normal, even though they were both in they're own little worlds at the moment.

After what seemed like hours to Hermione, Harry finally answered the question.

"I wanted to talk about Will and Nico."

Hermione should have known that this is what he wanted to talk about. It should have been _obvious_.

"You mean about what we saw in the common room?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," Harry answered.

Even if Hermione was Will and Nico's friend, it didn't change the fact that she was _insanely curious_ about them.

"I've kind of been meaning to talk to you guys about them as well," Hermione said. Over the course of the past few days, Hermione had done a bit of digging herself, and she found out some things that might be able to answer some of her and the boys' questions. "I think I know what language Nico and Will were speaking."

It was like a bomb had just been dropped. The boys had a look a shock on their face that almost made Hermione giggle.

"Well," Ron said whisper-shouting, "What is it?"

"I think it might be Greek."

"Greek?" Harry asked confused. "What makes you say it's Greek?"

"Do you guys remember on the first day of school when they asked me to read their schedules for them?"

"Wait, why would they need you to read their schedule?" Ron asked.

Hermione gave him a look of exasperation. "Some people in this world are dyslexic, Ronald."

Ron went a little red. "I knew that."

Hermione took a deep breath. "Anyways, when I told them the schedule I noticed they re-wrote it on the back. I didn't think anything of it at first, but a few days ago I noticed what looked like characters in the Greek alphabet on the back instead."

"And you're sure it was Greek?" Harry asked. "Completely positive?"

"Yes, Harry," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Why Greek?" Ron asked the others.

"Hell if I know," Hermione said, "but I'm positive that it was Greek."

The trio took a moment to process this new information. It was a full minute before Ron decided to break the tension. "Where would they have learned to speak bloody _Greek?"_

"Maybe at their old school?" Harry suggested.

"Maybe," Hermione started, "But that still doesn't explain their tendencies."

"What kind of tendencies?" Ron asked.

"Like how they sneak off sometimes and _always_ manage to change the subject; and are we just going to forget the fact that those two can see Thestrals? Horses who can only be seen by people who have witnessed _death?"_

"Hermione's right. We should be cautious around them," Harry said. "I know Nico said he wasn't a death eater, but that tattoo could just be a glamour. Beside's, what the hell kind of summer camp gives kids _tattoos?_ _"_

"Yeah, and not to mention the crazy dream I had about them." Ron said.

Hermione and Harry gave Ron a confused look. Apparently, Ron had never thought to tell his friends about the 'dream' a few weeks earlier.

"Wait, did I not tell you guys?"

"No," Hermione and Harry said in unison.

"It was after you and Nico's detention, Harry. I was sitting on my bed practicing the spell we were learning in Charms, when Nico suddenly appeared out of nowhere surrounded by shadows! Then the next thing I know I wake up on the floor. They told me I was dreaming the whole thing. Since we can't apparate inside Hogwarts I believed them."

Hermione paled a bit. "Now that you mention it, I was in the common room, and I don't ever remember seeing Nico come through the portrait hole."

"Why the hell did you not tell us, Ron?" Harry asked angrily.

"Well, I'm sorry that I trusted our _friends._ " Ron snapped, more annoyed by Nico and Will than Harry. "Maybe we should just confront them about it."

Hermione and Harry looked at him like he'd grown a third eye. "Absolutely not!" They scolded in unison.

"I don't know what is going on with them, but everything about them so far has seemed kind of fishy. We can't let them know about our suspicions of them. For now, let's just keep this to ourselves." Hermione said lowly, beginning to grab all her things. "Don't forget about our meeting tomorrow. I'll see you all then."

***

"Where are we going anyways? The Three Broomsticks?" Harry asked as Hermione led them around Hogsmeade.

"Oh-no, no, it's always packed and really noisy. I've told the others to meet us in the Hog's Head, that other pub, you know the one, it's not on the main road. I think it's a bit...you know... _dodgy_...but students don't normally go in there, so I don't think we'll be overheard."

After coming in, Harry was a little unsure of the setting, not completely trusting the atmosphere of the place. "I don't know about this, Hermione," Harry muttered. He looked at yet another woman with a scarf wrapped around her face, obscuring it from sight. "Has it occurred to you Umbridge might be under that?"

"Umbridge is shorter than that woman," Hermione said, hardly even sparing the woman a glance. "And anyway, even if Umbridge _does_ come in here there's nothing she can do to stop us, Harry, because I've double- and triple-checked the school rules. We're not out of bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed to come in the Hog's Head, and he said yes, but he advised me strongly to bring our own glasses. And I've looked up everything I can think of about study groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed. I just don't think it's a good idea if we _parade_ what we're doing."

The two bantered a bit longer over the subject, but were quickly interrupted by the barman. They ordered three butterbeers and made mindless chatter while waiting for other students to arrive.

"So who did you say was supposed to be meeting us?" Harry asked as he took a sip of his drink.

"Just a couple of people. I told them to be here about now and I'm sure they all know where it is-oh look, this might be them now-"

Neville, Dean, and Lavender were the first to arrive. After them were Parvati and Padma, who were accompanied by Cho and one of her friends. Then came Luna, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina, Colin and Dennis Creevey, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff girl, three Ravenclaw boys, Ginny, a Hufflepuff boy, two Ravenclaw girls, and lastly Fred and George with their close friend Lee Jordan.

"A couple of people?" Harry said disbelievingly. "A _couple of people_?"

"Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," Hermione said, not bothering to contain her joy at the outcome.

Just then the door opened once more, and Will walked in with Nico in tow.

Hermione's smile seemed to falter for a second. "Hey guys, glad you could make it!" She said with false cheerfulness.

Nico narrowed his eyes, but Will didn't seem to notice, blinding everyone around him with a brilliant smile.

"Are we sure he's a death eater?" Ron whispered to Harry. "Nico, maybe, but Will just doesn't seem the type."

Harry shrugged, not really sure how to respond. Neither of them acted particularly like someone who would follow Voldemort, but you could never be too careful.

Will was able to easily strike up a conversation with Hermione, and Harry could how much she was trying _not_ to enjoy her time with the boy. Nico instead gravitated towards Luna, and the two made mindless chatter about nothing and everything.

Fred walked up to the barman, who was glaring at the large group of kids that had just entered his pub. "Hi, could we have...twenty-nine butterbeers, please?"

For a second the barman just stood and glared. After about 30 seconds he got to work on preparing the large number of drinks.

"Cheers," Fred began passing them out, asking for gold afterwards to pay for the inane amount of butterbeers. Everyone dug around in their pocket for gold while Harry watched blankly from the side, dumbfounded at the amount of people that showed.

"What have you been telling people? What are they expecting?" Harry asked, a little more than slightly annoyed.

"I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say. You don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first."

People greeted and smiled at Harry, but he didn't seem to acknowledge anything. Everyone sat down in groups of twos or threes, Nico convincing Luna to come sit with him and Will as well, to which she brought along Neville too.

"Well-er-hi." Hermione managed. Everyone turned their focus to her, looking over at Harry occasionally. "Well, uh, well, you know why you're here. Um, well, Harry here had the idea-I mean" She continued to stutter through her speech, gaining a lot more confidence halfway through. 

"You want to pass you Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" One boy asked.

"Of course I do," Hermione said hurriedly. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because...because," She hesitated. "Because Lord Voldemort's back."

Everyone gave a collective gasp and turned to look at Harry. 

Hermione tried to continue before she was interrupted by a Hufflepuff boy.

"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" The blond said aggressively.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it-" Hermione started.

"You mean, Dumbledore believes _him_ ," He spat, gesturing rudely at Harry.

Ron fought plainly with the boy-Zacharias-while Hermione did her best to stray from the topic of Voldemort's return.

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry intervened coldly. "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."

Nico couldn't keep the smirk off his face. He was really liking this sassy, matter-of-fact side of Harry.

He told Zacharias off some more, before Hermione attempted to direct the conversation back to the matter at hand.

"Is it true that you can produce a Patronus?" Interrupted one girl.

"Yeah," Harry snapped.

"A corporeal Patronus?"

At first Nico was confused, not quite sure what the hell a Patronus was. When he thought it over, the information seemed to flash in his mind, despite him knowing he had never learned it before.

Harry paused for a moment. "Er-you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" He asked her.

"She's my auntie," The girl said, smiling brightly. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So-is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"

"Yes," Harry responded blandly.

"Wow," Nico spoke up. "That's advanced."

"Blimey, Harry!" Lee piped up. "I never knew that!"

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," Said Fred, grinning broadly. "She said you got enough attention as it was."

"Will we be learning how to produce a Patronus?" A girl asked.

Will whipped his head around so fast he was surprised his head didn't just spin right off his shoulders. He _knew_ that voice. There was no doubt about it.

Lou Ellen.


	10. Draco ate Crack Flavored Jellybeans; Jealousy, thy Name is Nico

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for disappearing like that! School's been a bitch, and this chapter took a lot longer than usual, as you could very clearly see...

Harry replied, and the conversation continued. Will didn't hear a word of it. All he could see was her. The shock must have been pretty clear on his face because she snorted loudly and waved at him obnoxiously.

His face heated up, embarrassed for both being caught and for not realizing it was her sooner. He quickly turned back around to hide his reddening cheeks and listened in to what the others were talking about.

"Right," Hermione said, and Will was already lost. "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week-"

"Hang on," Angelina interrupted her. "We need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."

"No," Said one of the Ravenclaw girls. "Nor with ours."

"Nor ours," Piped up a Hufflepuff boy.

"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," Hermione snapped out, growing impatient. "But you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters-"

"Well said!" Another Hufflepuff shouted over her. "Personally I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our O.W.L.s comin up!"

"I agree!" Lou Ellen chimed. "I, personally, don't understand why they gave us this useless bitch of a teacher during times like these. I get that they are having trouble believing the fact that Voldy's-" A few people gasped at the fact that she actually had the gall to use a _nickname_ on He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named "-return, but they shouldn't be putting us students at risk because of their own doubts. Honestly, the Ministry needs to get their shit together."

A few people hummed in agreement, although some were a bit annoyed by her crude language.

"The reason the Ministry doesn't want us trained in Defense is because the Ministry has some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. They think he'll mobilize us against the Ministry."

Everyone was stunned into silence.

Luna was the first to speak up. "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army."

"What?" Nico asked, turning to look at the blonde girl.

"Yes, he's got an army of heliopaths," She said.

"No, he hasn't," Hermione responded heatedly.

"Yes, he has," Luna replied calmly.

"What are heliopaths?" Neville asked.

Nico, already knowing the answer, turned towards his boyfriend. "How do you think this will affect our quest?" He said lowly.

"I'm not sure. I'm honestly kind of confused by the situation." Will said, giving Nico an apologetic smile.

Nico rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Basically the Ministry doesn't trust Dumbledore. So, another way of viewing it, Voldemort isn't Hogwarts only current enemy, the Ministry is as well."

"Then if they do anything, we fight back. Like this," He gestured at the large group of students. "This is fighting back."

***

As soon as Will had signed his name, and the meeting ended, he ran after Lou Ellen, trying to catch her before she left.

"Looking for me?"

Will spun around, facing his best-and also probably most annoying-friend, Lou Ellen Blackstone.

Will just gaped at her. "H-How?" He asked incredulously.

She looped her arm through his. "Come with me, William."

She led him to a fence surrounding a tall, wooden, run-down, abandoned building. "This is the Shrieking Shack." She said. "Rumor says it's haunted, but I know for a fact that isn't true."

Will looked at her quizzically. "Okay? What does that have to do with the quest?" He asked, confused.

She shrugged. "Nothing."

Will rolled his eyes. "Are you going to give me an explanation?" Will asked.

"Patience," Lou Ellen said, pissing Will off slightly. "I'm getting to that. Where's your boyfriend?"

Will realized that in his haste to catch Lou Ellen, he had left Nico behind. "Probably with Luna." He guessed. During their stay, the two had become rather close friends already.

Lou Ellen nodded. "Luna's really nice, but kinda weird. She's right up Casper's ally." Will ignored the nickname, and instead gave Lou Ellen an impatient look. "Fine, fine, I'll tell you. So, anyways, I'm obviously the third member of your quest. I'm guessing your wondering how I got here and why I didn't just come with you and Death Breath, yeah? So, long story short, I've been attending Hogwarts since I was eleven, and I actually am a real witch."

Will raised an eyebrow in question. It still didn't make sense, how did she get to this time period? "I can _see_ the question in your eyes, William. This quest started when Harry Potter started his first year at Hogwarts. When I got my acceptance letter, my mom told me about the quest, and that she wanted me to travel back in time to protect Harry. She granted me the power to time travel, so I always leave a few weeks before term starts. That's why I didn't leave with you and Nico.

"I've been keeping a watchful eye over Harry the whole time, without interfering too much. After Voldemort came back, mom talked to Hades and it was decided that Nico and one other person of his choosing would join me on my quest, and now here we are. That good enough of an explanation for you?"

It took Will a bit to process everything she had just said. This quest had begun much longer ago than he thought. "Yeah," Was all he replied.

Lou Ellen smirked. "Glad you finally caught up, William. Now, let's go find Death the Kid. Since you spontaneously decided to _abandon_ him, we have to explain it all over again to him." Lou Ellen huffed, already walking back in the direction of the main town, leaving Will in the dust.

He started to run after her. "Lou, wait up!"

***

"Okay," Nico said. He didn't seem fazed at all by the news. "Good thing it's you. I had no interest in some stranger being the third member of our quest."

Will and Lou Ellen had found him and Luna talking beside a display window for Quidditch gear and pulled him aside to explain everything (thankfully, Luna didn't seem to mind).

Lou Ellen pouted. "Can't even crack a tiny smile for me Ghost Boy?" She teased.

"In the span of ten minutes, you've called me about twelve different names, none of which being Nico." Nico said, keeping his expression neutral.

"What would you like me to call you then?" She asked, smiling cheekily. "Neeks?"

Based on the murderous look in his boyfriend's eyes, Will decided it was a good time to step in. 

"So," He said loudly, doing his best to break the tension. "Honeydukes? I haven't been yet, and I hear their sweets are really good."

"Sure," Despite his best attempts at concealing it, Nico couldn't keep the glee out of his voice. He was an absolute sucker for anything sweet (Will included).

"I'm down," said Lou Ellen. 

Since the boys have never been to Honeydukes, they had no idea where it was. So ultimately, Lou Ellen ended up dragging their asses through the long and winding streets of Hogsmeade. They landed in front of a cute gray brick building, with two bright blue display windows, and an overly cheerful pink sign that read 'Honeydukes'.

When they walked in, the smell of chocolate and sugar hit them like bricks. Nico could feel his mouth watering at the smell, and Will had to grab the back of his coat to make sure that he didn't wander off. It's not that Honeydukes was big, but there were just a lot of people, and Will new that Nico would regret leaving one way or another.

"Calm yourself, Nico," Lou Ellen said with a smirk. She quickly led the boys over to a corner in the shop with cute little red and white striped boxes with jellybeans on tiny pink and blue painted shelves. "Now these," she pointed to the boxes, "are the wizards equivalent of Russian roulette."

"Wait, aren't those the jellybeans we had on the train?" Will wondered.

"Yup," she said proudly, "these are Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and they really do mean every flavor."

"Those things belong in Tartarus," Nico said with disgust.

"Don't be a baby, Death Breath. I'm buying us some so we can eat them in the Room of Requirement."

"What's that?" Will asked.

"I'll show you guys later," she said. She grabbed two boxes from the shelves and started heading toward the cashier counter, which, by the way, had a line of students almost out the door. "You guys can look around while I pay, and if you see anything you like you can just cut in front of me," she said before leaving them.

"So what do you wanna do n-," Will stopped when he saw Nico looking over on the other side of the shop, over the crowd of people, at the display of chocolate frogs. The son of Hades had a look of small wonder on his face, even though he'd never admit it himself. Will smiled at the adorableness of his boyfriend.

Nico snapped out of his daze when he felt a slight tug on the back of his jacket. He turned to look at Will, who shot him a toothy grin. "Wait here," Will told Nico, before disappearing into the crowd of people.

Nico gave Will a look of confusion, but stayed put anyways. He started twisting his ring out of boredom, until he heard a voice behind him.

"Hello, Nico."

Nico knew that voice, and he wished that he'd gone with Will. He turned around to see Draco Malfoy, as well as a girl with a black bob haircut, two stupid looking boys that looked like they'd eaten way to many sweets. He was still twisting his skull ring, but now more out of annoyance than boredom.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Nico asked. He silently prayed to the gods for Will to come back and take him away from these people, but he knew that probably wasn't going to happen. 

Draco sneered. "Come now, don't be so mean. I just wanted to talk."

"About what?"

Draco had a knowing smile on his face, and he leaned over to whisper in Nico's ear. "Our Lord."

Nico cocked a brow in Draco's direction, but was immediately distracted at the sight of Hannah Abbot approaching Will. "Our what now?"

 _Okay, I'm like_ 90% _sure that Draco just ate crack jellybeans. I mean, every flavor, right? And who the **hell** does that girl think she_ _is?_

Draco rolled his eyes dramatically. "The Dark Lord, obviously." He said plainly, but Nico was still confused as to what he was referring too. He saw Hannah move closer to Will, and he could just _feel_ that slut flirting with his boyfriend.

"I have absolutely no clue who you're talking about, and I honestly don't care. Would you excuse me?"

Draco must have seen the murder evident in his eyes, because he decided to back off a bit.

"Come to me when you're ready to start talking." He said ominously before stalking off.

Nico didn't fully take in what Draco said, instead making a beeline for his painfully oblivious boyfriend and that blonde hoe beside him. "Will, you pick anything out yet? We're in a bit of a rush to meet up with the others." He lied smoothly, schooling his expression so Hannah couldn't see how angry he was.

Will, of course, saw right through. "Right, right, sorry Nico. I got a little sidetracked." He turned to Hannah giving her a little wave goodbye. Nico didn't wait for him, just spun on his heel and walked away, Will hot on his trail.

_Okay, that girl is officially a bitch. I swear to gods if I see her talking to Will again I'm gonna-_

"Did I do something wrong?" Will asked, seemingly confused.

Nico huffed out a breath. "I just... I didn't feel comfortable with you talking to her. I mean, she was clearly flirting."

Will smiled. "Are you jealous?" Nico glared at him. "Are you _pouting_ _?_ That's adorable!" Will cooed, and Nico turned away from him. "Sorry, babe, but don't worry! I'll make it up to you tomorrow, 'kay? Just you and me, all day in Hogsmeade. Sound fun?"

Nico nodded harshly, still refusing to look at his boyfriend. "Let's just go meet up with Lou Ellen." He forced out, walking over towards her where she was already waiting in line.

Will laughed loudly and followed after his angry, yet adorable, boyfriend.


	11. Nico and Will get E X P O S E D (not really but kind of)

Nico unintentionally woke up early, too excited about his and Will's date today to sleep properly. He had absolutely no idea what him and Will were going to do, all Will had told him of it was that it was a surprise.

Nico headed to the bathroom to get started, beginning with brushing his teeth, then brushing the messy black tangles out of his hair. He noticed how long his hair was getting as he was brushing through it. It fell at almost his shoulders now. "I really need a trim..." He muttered to himself.

"Your hair looks great," a groggy voice said from behind him. He turned around to the sight of his sleepy boyfriend yawning.

"It'd be nice if it were a bit shorter," he said, blushing as Will came over and hugged him from behind, nuzzling into his boyfriend's neck.

"Mhhm, you're warm." A small blush rose to Nico's face as Will continued. At some point, nuzzling turned into small kisses along his nape, and Will's hands slowly made their way up Nico's shirt, tracing his toned stomach, and thumbing over a few small scars that hadn't quite disappeared yet.

"So," Will said, pausing his previous actions to speak, "is there a special reason you're wearing my shirt?"

Nico blushed at the realization that he was, in fact, wearing one of Will's old CHB shirts. He stole it a few weeks before they were assigned the quest, and Nico decided to take it with him. Honestly, its a miracle Will hadn't noticed until now. Not that Nico would ever admit any of this. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about," Nico said, internally cursing himself for the stutter.

"Oh, I think you do, Sunshine," Will said. His voice was still raspy from just waking up, and Nico would be lying if he said he didn't love it. Will moved his attention to behind Nico's ear, kissing and lightly sucking behind it, and nibbling on the shell.

Nico let out little, tiny sounds of appreciation. He wanted this to continue, but he knew the risk. He barely managed to choke out, "S-Someone could catch us."

Will, who hadn't taken this into account earlier, paused his actions, leaving Nico with one final kiss to the back of his head before grabbing his toothbrush. "Everybody leaves for break tomorrow. Tomorrow, then."

Nico blushed at the promise. Slowly calming down from his earlier actions, he picked up where he left off, and continued to get ready for the date.

"You know, you could always tie it up," Will said.

Nico silently contemplated the idea before grabbing a rubber band and tying his hair in a small ponytail. He left the bathroom, dressed and ready for the date, and his stomach growling violently. Though, before he left, he failed to notice the shameless stare Will was giving him, as well as the violent blush on his face.

***

Will and Nico walked hand-in-hand through Hogsmeade. The streets weren't very crowded, considering most students were holed up in their dorms packing for the holidays, so they weren't too worried about anyone seeing them. Will's unnaturally warm hand felt nice against Nico's unnaturally cold one. Seriously, Will was like some kind of human-heater.

 _Lucky Apollo kids_ , Nico thought, slightly bitter about his current temperature. His face had started to turn red from the cold, and he internally cursed himself for not bringing a heavier coat. Hell, Will had tried to get him to bring a winter coat when he was packing back in CHB, but Nico shrugged him off, saying that he'd be fine. _Why am I a dumbass?_ Nico thought to himself. All while Nico was internally cursing himself, Will was distracted by said boy's ponytail. Will was a bit obsessed.

After the couple had gotten ready for the morning, they'd hastily eaten breakfast in the Great Hall, too eager to begin the date to eat more than one or two pieces of bacon. Turns out Will's surprise entailed walking around Hogsmeade for the day, doing whatever they wanted, and honestly Nico wouldn't have it any other way. After a bit more walking, they stopped in front of Honey Duke's window display. Nico gave the blonde a confused look, since they'd been in the store not even twenty four hours ago. Nico decided to make his confusion known. "What are we doing here?"

Will, with the ever-present smile on his face, happily announced, "Well, I know we didn't really buy anything the last time we went here, so I figured this time I'd get you something. Also, don't even try to act like you don't want anything. I saw you eyeing the chocolate frogs the last time we were here."

Nico blushed shyly at being found out. Thankfully the red on his face already caused by the cold temperature covered it up. Despite the shyness, he smiled at Will, thinking about how, even though he's oblivious, he's the best boyfriend he could ever have. The Italian nodded, and the pair entered the store.

The rush of warm air and smell of sugar hit Nico like bricks. He was instantly warmed by the pink and blue painted store that was practically empty. Nico thanked the Gods for that, since he didn't _ever_ want a repeat of the last time they were here. After thoroughly scanning the store, his eyes landed on the chocolate frogs, and he immediately pulled Will's intertwined hand along with him towards them. Nico hadn't gotten to eat one yet, but he'd heard amazing things from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and he was probably way more excited then he should have been.

"Geez, that didn't take long," Will said jokingly.

"Well, I haven't gotten to eat them yet," Nico said, trying to control the watering in his mouth. "Besides, it's not like you don't want to try one too."

"Fair enough," Will said with a laugh. 

In the end, the pair ended up getting three chocolate frogs, one for Will and two for Nico, as well as a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (after much protest from Nico). At some point, they'd ended up in a heated battle of best-of-three rock paper scissors, deciding who would pay. After 7 ties in a row, they decided to just split the cost. And a good thing too. The cashier, although amused at first, was starting to become annoyed by their extensive game.

They exited the store, hand-in-hand, talking about how their classes were going, Umbridge being a bitch, and really anything else that really came to mind. They wandered around Hogsmeade, looking at little store window displays, and taking in the beauty of the quaint little village. Call him a cliche, but the only word Nico could use to describe Hogsmeade was magical which, ironically, it literally was.

"Hey, you wanna get something to eat?" Will asked, squeezing Nico's hand affectionately. Nico squeezed back almost immediately.

"Yeah, I'm kinda hungry. Plus, I kinda wanna get out of the cold," the black-haired boy admitted. Will hummed in agreement, and they ultimately decided to go get butter beer at The Three Broomsticks.

They decided to sit in the back so they could talk about things from back home. They weren't too worried about anyone hearing them, since the only people present in the quaint tavern were the employees and a few older witches that seemed to be deeply invested in a card game they were playing. Even though they'd gotten a booth, the coupe had opted to sit together on one side of the booth and put their bags of candy in the other. Plus, it gave the two boys a chance be close to each other without having to worry about any one they knew eavesdropping.

Or so they thought.

***

The bell above the door chimed to signal the entrance of Harry, Ron, and Hermione into the Three Broomsticks. They happily stripped their coats off, thankful to be out of the cold. The middle aged man at the front gave them a courteous smile, and signaled them to take a seat wherever they liked. The trio had decided to get butter beer one last time before break, hence why they were at the tavern.

The trio smiled politely back at the man. Harry was about to grab them a table near the middle when Hermione stopped him. She grabbed his arm and pointed towards a booth near the back.

"Harry, is that..?" she asked curiously, while Ron craned his head to see what she was pointing at. Harry couldn't see much, what with the backs of the booths being pretty high, but he could make out a mop of blonde hair barely peeking over the top, and right beside it, black haired tied back in a ponytail. Even though that's all he saw, he knew it was them almost immediately. And, judging by the look on Ron's face, he'd come to the same conclusion.

"Yeah, it it," he said, moving towards the table, but was once again stopped by Hermione.

"What are you doing?" she asked incredulously.

"We needed a chance to spy on them, and now's our chance," he responded.

"W-wait, we should give them their privacy. I mean, they might be suspicious, but this is taking it a bit too far don't you think? Besides, we came here to have _fun_. _Spying_ is not _fun_."

"Sorry, but I'm with Harry on this one, 'Mione," Ron said, following Harry as he broke free from Hermione's hold.

The brunette cursed at their stubbornness. Hermione was smart enough to tell that Will and Nico were most likely on a date, and she made an internal promise to them to respect their privacy. She knew that if she didn't stop her friends, they'd be found out. But, on the other hand, Hermione knew that even though they were her friends, they'd acted pretty suspicious the past few days; plus, she admittedly wanted more info about the boys.

And so, curiosity killed the cat, and Hermione followed Ron and Harry. So the waiter wouldn't bother them, they decided to order their drinks up front, so that they wouldn't be found out later. Will and Nico had their backs towards them as the trio moved from table to table, inching closer each time with butter beer in hand. Eventually, they ended up in the adjoining booth without being seen by them.

Now, normally Nico would've noticed if something was sneaking up behind him. But, around Will he tended to get... distracted. So, by some miracle or curse, he hadn't noticed them, instead continuing to idly chat with Will about life back at camp, the trio eavesdropping on their conversation. Hermione was sitting against their backs, crouched down, while the boys were across from her.

"I can't believe you dragged me to the bonfire that night," Nico said.

"Well, _someone_ has to come rescue you from that dark coffin you call your cabin every now and then."

"Listen, I'm working on it, okay? Hazel's supposed to help me re-decorate it, but she and Frank haven't gotten a chance to come back to camp yet."

 _Who're_ _Hazel and Frank_ , Ron mouthed to his friends.

 _No clue_ , Hermione mouth back, _And what do they mean camp?_

Both both boys just shrugged. Harry was about to ask about the cabin part, but the boys' conversation picked back up.

"You know, I could just help you re-decorate."

"Will, we both know that my cabin'd end up looking like something out of an indie magazine if I let you decorate it."

"Got me there, Sunshine." Ron and Harry gave each other questioning glances while Hermione feigned ignorance. I mean, can you really blame them, given the fact that Nico, at least to them, seemed like the exact _opposite_ of Sunshine.

"So," Will continued, "is Percy still hung up on the 'you're not my type' thing?"

"Don't even get me started! Every time I see him, he always has to bring that up, and I'm so _done_. It doesn't matter what he's doing, he always has to ask 'how is HE your type and I'm not' every time and I'm just ready to punc-"

Nico was cut off mid-sentence, which was then followed by a long pause. Harry and Ron noticed that they could no longer see the top of Will's head. They used the silence, however, to continue to silently mouth questions to each other.

 _Who's Percy,_ Harry questioned.

 _Better yet, why would he be Nico's type_ _,_ Ron followed up.

Oh, Hermione knew _exactly_ why, not that she'd ever tell. She was also pretty sure she knew why Nico had gone quiet, and to say she was jealous was putting it a little mildly. Nevertheless, she continued to play dumb. She mouthed to the boys, _Yeah, why would Percy be his type?_

Just as Harry was about to ask another question, the silence from Nico and Will's booth had ended.

"W-what was that for?" Nico asked. He seemed a little flustered.

"You were rambling," Will replied with a chuckle. Even though she couldn't see him, she could hear the million-dollar smile in his voice, and she immediately knew her previous suspicions had been confirmed.

 _Lucky bastard,_ she thought bitterly. Even though she was happy for them, a part of her was still jealous.

Ron mouthed, _What the bloody hell just happened?_

 _No clue_ , Harry responded.

Another moment of silence, before the mindless chatter started up again. Well, to any other person on the planet it was mindless chatter, but to the trio, especially Ron and Harry... well, they hung on to every word.

"Hey, remind me to IM Kayla when we get back to the castle. I need to check up on the infirmary," Will said.

"I have no idea why you're so worried, you're sister's probably fine."

"Listen, you weren't there when her and the younger kids decided to wake me and the rest of Apollo cabin up with kazoo's at 3am in the morning. I love Kayla, but she can be a bit... unpredictable at times."

Nico laughed, "Are you _serious?_ Like that _actually happened?"_

"Yup," Will said popping the 'p'. "I had her cleaning the cabin bathroom for two weeks after that."

"Wow," Nico started, "so in charge."

"Why? You like it?"

Nico let out a coy laugh, "Maybe."

More silence, but Hermione could hear rustling noises coming from their booth, and she could feel their movements since her back was towards them. Honestly, if Harry and Ron didn't understand what was happening right now, she was going to have some serious concerns about their IQ levels.

Ron mouthed, _Apollo cabin?_

Hermione used every hint of restraint in her body to not face-palm then and there. She turned towards Harry, who she prayed was more observant than Ron.

 _Yeah, what's that_ , Harry replied.

Hermione felt the slap of her palm against her forehead before she could stop it. Hell, the rustling noises were _still happening_ and they hadn't noticed. She thought to herself, _I'm best friends with two nitwits._

The rustling stopped, and they said some things to each other that were too quiet for Hermione to understand. Then they started talking about some guy named Jason, capture the flag, some girl named Annabeth, and then back to the Hades cabin again. Then, the waiter came up to the couple to hand them their check, flashed them a courteous smile, then left.

"You got any money, Sunshine?" Will asked.

"Nope." Hermione heard things shifting around, and she could only assume that they were looking for money. "You think they accept drachmas?"

"Nope."

The trio gave each other looks of confusion. Hermione knew she'd heard that word somewhere before, she just couldn't tell where.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Nico asked.

"I don't like it, but yeah I am."

"Then hold on tight, Amore."

Hermione held her breath in anticipation for what would happen. Then, suddenly, she felt a rush of cold air, a chill down her spine, and then there was no sound coming from their booth. Hermione, confused, looked into their booth, only to be met with two empty butter beer mugs and an un-payed check.

"They're gone!"

Harry and Ron rushed up from their seat to see for themselves. The confusion painted on their faces looked agonizing. All they could do was stare at the empty seats, slack-jawed and all.

"It's just like what happened in my dream!" Ron said loudly.

"Except it wasn't a dream, Ronald," Hermione said exasperatedly.

"Well, one thing's for sure," Harry said. "Those two have got a lot of explaining to do."

***

"I can't believe we dined and dashed," Will said. Him and Nico were strolling the hallways of Hogwarts together. After Nico shadow-traveled out of the Three Broomsticks and into the empty Gryffindor common room, Nico took an hour-long power nap with his head in Will's lap the whole time. After he woke up, Will lectured about the fact that what he did was pretty reckless, but Nico argued that it was better than confronting the waiter. In the end, Nico and Will spent another hour just cuddling on the couch. When two first years wandered in though, they broke apart, and decided to take a walk around Hogwarts, since that hadn't really gotten to explore that much.

"Believe it, Amore," Nico said, happily swinging him and Wills intertwined arms back and forth. The Italian didn't miss the small blush on Will's face at the nickname. He knew how much Will loved it when he spoke Italian.

Will squeezed Nico's swinging hand. "I just..." Will trailed off.

"You just what?" 

"I just wish we didn't have to keep walking on eggshells around people. All I wanna do all day is just hold you and kiss you and hold your hand but I can't. I wish there was a place where we could be alone, no one bothering us."

Nico's heart swelled at the confession, but ached at the same time. "Yeah, me too," he responded.

As soon as the words left Nico's mouth, something extraordinary happened. The stone of the wall Nico and Will were walking by started morphing, slowly changing into the iron outline of a door, then the stone changed into wood. The wall had changed into a old, medieval-looking door.

The two boys stared in shock at the door, contemplating if they should open it. Will stepped forward, touching his hands to the handles to check if he was hallucinating. He contemplated the idea of the butter beer actually having beer in it, and he'd just been drunk for hours. But, as soon as he touched the handle, the cold steel sent a shiver up tan arm, and he knew that he wasn't hallucinating or drunk. He looked back at Nico, seeing if he thought he should open it. Nico gave a silent nod, and slowly, Will opened the mysterious, medieval door.

"Oh my _Gods_."


	12. The Magic Room and Draco's Annoying Posse of Pricks

Will was the first to move, slowly pushing the old, creaky door open wide enough for him to peek inside.

"Holy Hades..." Nico muttered, peering inside the room as well.

What the boys saw was unbelievable. The room was bigger than the Great Hall, and filled to the brim with almost anything you could imagine. There were banisters and tapestries lining the wall and ceiling, mixed with shelves upon shelves of books. It was easy to tell the books were mainly there to add to the aesthetic, but it was a nice touch nonetheless. In the room there was a wide, open patch of flooring covered in exotic looking carpets and blankets, and a buffet of food sitting atop a table at the far edge of the room. Every sweet you could possibly think of, and it was just _sitting_ there, untouched and begging to be devoured. Nico was drooling at the mere sight of it.

"What is this place..?" Will wondered aloud, stepping inside and running a tan hand across the soft cloth of a plump, comfortable-looking couch; colored a dark, soothing gray, and easy on the eyes. The color felt a bit drab in comparison to the bright colors filling the rest of the space, but they felt fitting at the same time. The colorful pillows and rug tied it into the feel of the room, and it seemed comfortable, safe, and complete.

Nico sat down on the couch rather than waste his time admiring it. He sunk deep into the cushions, the couch basically absorbing his small frame. "Will, come sit. These couches are comfortable as hell." Nico said, letting himself sink further into the couch cushions, which smelled faintly of cinnamon and spice.

Will chuckled and sat down beside Nico, falling deeper into the couch than his skinny, short boyfriend. Nico gravitated towards Will's arms almost habitually, snuggling his small frame into the taller boy's like a touch-starved puppy. He mindlessly played around with Nico's hair, admiring the room more as he really drank the whole place in. The room kind of reminded him of the time he accidentally shadow traveled to Saudi Arabia and had to wait a few days before he could return home. He found the place extremely nice and comforting, and found refuge in the familiarity of the room. The Italian was too lost in his amazement of the room to notice Will moving his arms around his waist, instead opting to shut his eyes and take a moment to relax.

"Hey," Will spoke up, breaking the peaceful silence the room brought the pair. "We _did_ want a place where we could be alone." The blonde smiled, wrapping his hand around Nico's, and raising it up to brush his lips against softly, the smile never disappearing from his face. "It's like Hogwarts wanted us to have some alone time."

"We're not telling people about this, are we?"

"Oh Hades, no," Will said, softly brushing his lips over Nico's cheek. The Italian boy blushed and nuzzled into Will's side to hide his red face.

"You're so warm," Nico mumbled out, moving even closer to Will, shutting his eyes and wrapping his arms around Will's torso, curling up beside him.

"And you're adorable," Will said, smiling down at his too cute boyfriend. At first glance, Nico didn't really seem the cuddly type, but Will knew he was actually clingy as hell, and he loves that about him.

"No I'm not," Nico muttered angrily, huffing out in annoyance.

"Yes, you are, and you can't change my mind about that, cutie," Will said, wrapping Nico's small frame up in his arms, resting his head on top of the smaller boy's. "My adorable, dark, edgy boyfriend."

"You're such an ass, Solace."

Will chuckled, "You don't mean that, sunshine."

"You know what, maybe Percy's my type after all."

"Woah, let's not be rash here!"

Nico smirked in victory, his eyes drifting towards the food, his stomach growling embarrassingly loud.

"Well, someone's hungry," Will teased.

"Obviously, asshole, go get me food," Nico said, trying to sound intimidating over his embarrassment.

"What do you want, Sunshine?"

"For you to call me by my damn name."

"Absolutely not."

"I'm starting to think you'd _literally_ die if you called me by my real name."

"Nah, that's Lou Ellen. I'm honestly not sure if she knows your real name."

"What do you have against my real name?"

"As your boyfriend, it's my job to call you by every single cute nickname I can think up."

"I'm unhappy to report that you're doing an amazing job."

"Well, would you prefer 'Death Breath'? If not, I'm sure Lou Ellen has a whole arsenal of annoying nicknames for you to choose from."

"How about Nico?"

"Once again, not happening."

Nico huffed. Will laughed and finally shifted to get off the couch. The small Italian stared at Will's retreating form, curling into himself, missing the warmth that Will provided him.

In his state of relaxation, Nico let his mind wander. He thought about his friends at Camp Half-Blood, his Father, and the quest that he and Will had been forced into. He wished he could contact his friends from the Greek and Roman camps, but all of them hadn't even been born yet, the one exception being Hazel, who was still roaming around in the underworld at this point in time. He also thought about Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Did they truly trust him and Will, or did they still believe they were linked to Voldemort in some way?

Will began walking back with the food, almost tripping over one of the Persian rugs that covered the floor. Nico broke out of his reverie at the sight, snorting at his klutzy boyfriend. "This is _your_ food I'm carrying!" Will protested, carefully making his way back to Nico's side, handing him one of two plates.

Nico dug in immediately, not sparing Will one glance. "Slow down, babe."

"Make me," he mumbled through a mouth full of food. Will shook his head, chuckling softly at his boyfriend's antics before slowly taking the first bite of his own meal. The flavors exploded in his mouth, and he immediately understood why Nico hadn't wanted to slow down. The blonde boy scarfed the food down in record time, feeling full and happy when the meal was over.

Nico sighed contentedly and leaned against his boyfriend's side, eyes fluttering shut at the threat of sleep. Will wrapped one protective arm around the Italian boy, feeling his own eyelids being weighted down by the promise of sleep. The two boys fell asleep in that room, wrapped up in one another and surrounded by a sense of comfort that neither had felt since they started this quest. For the first time in a while, Nico slept soundly, Will's protective arms keeping any night terrors away.

* * *

"You know," Nico said, annoyed at the sound of steps not far behind him, "I'm getting really tired of you following me." Nico turned around and instantly regretted it. He was met with the sight of a smirking Draco Malfoy, his two goons that Nico couldn't bother remembering the names of, and a bratty looking girl that reminded Nico of Drew from back at camp. His annoyed tone echoes through the mainly empty corridor. The only people present were Nico, Draco and his lackeys. The Italian assumed that everyone else was in their dorms, packing for break.

"Well, you see, I wouldn't have to follow you if you'd just talk to me." Draco wore what was meant to be an easy-going smile, but Nico could tell that it was forced.

Earlier that morning, Nico and Will woke up in the mysterious room, still holding each other. Then, when they realized that it was 2:45 in the afternoon, they scrambled to look presentable before sneaking out of the room and back to their dorms, trying their best to remain unnoticeable. Even though everyone was leaving for break today, Dumbledore (under Umbridge's order from the minister) ordered that there would still be classes that day. While stealthily creeping through corridors, Nico internally cursed the pink-obsessed toad.

However, like most of Will and Nico's plans, this one failed. Just as they were about to reach the staircase to Gryffindor Tower, Draco and his posse of pricks popped out of nowhere. Trying not to be suspicious, Nico and Will made up some cheap story about getting lost on their way to Umbridge's class, and Draco very uncharacteristically volunteered to show them the way to the dungeons.

So, Draco ended up taking them to DADA, where Umbridge passive aggressively chewed them out for being tardy and deducted 30 points from Gryffindor. It was while the pink toad droned on about pronunciation and it's importance in spell casting that Nico and Will noticed the strange absence of the trio.

After the classes for the day were over, Will ended up needing to talk to McGonagall about extra credit, unknowingly leaving Nico alone with four pricks following him. He hadn't said anything about it, but his patience had reached it's end. "Why are you four so persistent? What the hell did I do to you?" Nico growled. He was considering stabbing them with his Stygian Iron sword, but he knew that murder was often frowned upon in the wizarding community (well, most communities at least).

"Oh for Merlin's sake, this isn't getting anywhere Dracy-poo," the girl spoke up, tucking her short, dark hair behind her ear and pouting like a brat. "C'mon, we have to be on the train in an _hour_."

 _Are we sure Drew didn't come on this mission too, because this girl is just as bratty as her and it's freaking me out,_ Nico thought to himself.

"Shut up with the nickname, Pansy," Draco said, malice laced in his voice. Nico began to think that maybe, just maybe, Draco hated the nickname more than he did. "Anyways," Draco continued, "why are you so adamant about avoiding me?"

Nico sent a silent prayer to any god listening to make Will appear and drag him away from this situation. _Will is the people person,_ Nico thought _, he should be the one handling_ _this_. However, the more he thought about it, the more Nico was positive that these people weren't interested in talking to Will. "I'm just confused as to why you creeps have been following me all day," he retorted.

"Well, would you have talked to me if I didn't?"

Nico was silenced. The truth is, he wouldn't have. Ever since Hermione had told him of all the things Draco had done to her for being muggle-born, he'd made a point to avoid confrontation with him at all cost. The encounter at Honey Dukes had thrown him off guard, since never before had he really had a somewhat civil conversation with Draco (even if Nico was a little distracted by his oblivious boyfriend). Despite that, the encounter had never truly surfaced his mind again until now. He had no idea what Draco had meant when he said 'our Lord', and now that he thought about it, he knew the only way to get answers was to suck it up and talk to Draco and his lackeys.

Draco looked smug at Nico's silence, which only prompted him to keep talking. "I tried to talk to you in Honey Dukes, but you ran off before we could actually talk. Quite rude, you know. Anyways, I'd like to have a conversation with you about something, but I can't do that here. How about we go somewhere more private?"

The alarm bells going off in Nico's head were deafening. He knew he shouldn't trust these people, but he knew he needed any information he could get. He was on a quest, after all. A part of him was screaming for him to listen to his instincts and not follow them, but the more reckless side of him wanted to know where Draco was going with all this.

"Well," Draco said, snapping Nico from his train of thought, "I'm waiting."

"Nico!"

Nico snapped his head around to Will, had appeared at the end of the corridor and was panting. "Nico, c'mon, it's urgent!"

Taking note of Will's serious tone, he gave Draco and his goons a mock salute before rushing after his boyfriend. Nico took pride in the face of anguish and annoyance on Draco's face. He followed his boyfriend to Gryffindor Tower, where they passed some very confused first years on their way up to their dorms. Once the door to the room had been shut, Nico immediately turned to his boyfriend. "Will, what's going on?"

"Arthur Weasley was attacked last night," Will said, sitting down on his bed while Nico processed the shocking information. "Apparently," Will continued, "he was attacked at the Ministry of Magic last night. McGonagall has been looking for us all day, but Dumbledore told her to not send out a search party, since it would've made us seem suspicious. They want us at Grimmauld Place as fast as possible. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and the rest of the Weasleys left earlier. "

"That would explain why we didn't see them in defense against the dark arts." Nico said. " But what does this have to do with us?"

"They think Voldemort's responsible. Also, Arthur Weasly's a member of the Order, so we're automatically involved."

"But why do they need _us_ there?"

"According to McGonagall, _Harry_ was the one who saw Arthur Weasly get attacked in a dream."

"You mean like demigod dreams? Where we, like, get dreams foreshadowing all the bad shit that's about to go down?"

"If that's how you wanna put it, yeah, from what McGonagall told me that's _exactly_ what happened."

"Okay," Nico said, "so where do we go from here?"

Will stayed silent, instead opting to stare intently at his shoes. The blonde didn't need to say anything for him to know that something was amiss. Nico walked over to the bed, sitting down beside Will, who was still insistent on not looking at him. He grabbed the blonde's hand and intertwined it with his own, lightly squeezing it. "Hey," Nico spoke softly, "what's wrong?"

Will squeezed Nico's hand before looking up to face him. His eyes showed that he was having an internal war with himself, and Nico knew the feeling all too well. He took a deep breath before answering, "They want you to shadow travel us halfway across the United Kingdom to get to Grimmauld Place."

 _Oh,_ Nico thought to himself, _so that's what this is about._ Nico gave a light, reassuring smile. "Hey, I'm gonna be alright, okay? I can handle this."

Will knew that Nico was strong, stronger than anyone he'd ever met, including gods. Still, that didn't stop him from worrying about his boyfriend. Despite the comforting words from Nico, he couldn't fight back the worry in his gut. But, he knew Nico could handle it. So, he planted a kiss on Nico's cheek before standing up, dragging Nico with him in the process. A vibrant smile had replaced the look of doubt on his face. "Let's do this, Sunshine."

"Wait, Will, what about our stuff?" Nico asked, just now remembering that very important detail.

Will laughed and pointed to the room, which Nico now noticed was devoid of their belongings. "They already took our stuff there," Will mused.

"O-Oh," Nico said, slightly flustered from missing that detail. Will just laughed again before kissing Nico lightly on the forehead. 

"You ready, Sunshine?"

"Always."

And, in a gust of cold air and shadows, the boys disappeared as if they'd never been there in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We accidentally fucked up the timeline, so DA meetings are starting AFTER Christmas break (yes we are fully aware this is not right). You have my lovely co-writer to thank for this, but I love her anyways, so it's fine.
> 
> Co-Writer: If you love me, then why do you keep me chained to a chair to write chapters for you?
> 
> Shhh, no one needs to know.
> 
> Co-Writer: And refuse to feed me?
> 
> Food is for the weak.


	13. Author's Note

This is NOT an update. This fic actually has two authors, and because of quarantine, writing this story together like we did in the past has become increasingly difficult. We've already discussed it between us, and decided we won't have anymore updates for the story until quarantine is over. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I want to say that we are not abandoning this fic. We just need to take a small break for the time being, I hope you can understand.


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